Sony Changes Movie Release Dates For Spider-Man, Kraven, Ghostbusters & Many More
All of Hollywood is at a bit of a standstill at the moment. Due to studio executives' unwillingness to meet the reasonable demands of both the Writer's Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, both unions have gone on strike together for the first time since 1960. Both guilds want better pay, especially when it comes to streaming residuals, which has resulted in increasing disparity between the pay of CEOs and those who actually create the art the studios put out.
With the strikes, many productions have had to shutter for the time being, meaning studios pay hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly to film nothing. And with no end in sight, many movies will likely be delayed since actors can't promote upcoming projects while on strike. It appears Sony is already preparing for the worst, with a slew of release dates changing, including the highly-anticipated "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" having no release date.
Here's what Sony's calendar looks like, according to The Wrap:
- "Gran Turismo" (Columbia Pictures) - August 25, 2023, with nationwide previews the weekends of 8/11 and 8/18 (from August 11, 2023)
- "Madame Web" (Columbia Pictures) – February 14, 2024 (from February 16, 2024)
- Untitled "Ghostbusters" Sequel (Columbia Pictures) – March 29, 2024 (from December 20, 2023)
- Untitled "Bad Boys" Sequel (Columbia Pictures) – June 14, 2024
- Untitled "Venom" Sequel (Columbia Pictures) – July 12, 2024
- "Kraven the Hunter" (Columbia Pictures) – August 30, 2024 (from October 6, 2023)
- "Karate Kid" (Columbia Pictures) – December 13, 2024 (from June 7, 2024)
- "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation) – TBC (from March 29, 2024)
- "They Listen" (Columbia Pictures/Blumhouse) – TBC (from August 30, 2024)
Fans will have to wait a while longer to see Beyond the Spider-Verse
Sony's release date shuffle certainly seems like a response to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Between zero promotion and the possible need for reshoots on certain projects, audiences will have to wait to see quite a few films. And it starts almost immediately, with Sony pushing back the release of "Gran Turismo" to August 25. Neill Blomkamp's newest film was supposed to come out on August 11, and it should have some limited showings on that date as well as August 18. Outside of that, people will have to wait until 2024 to see more from Sony.
The one outlier among the delays is "Madame Web." The Spider-Man adjacent film was supposed to come out on February 16, 2024, but it's actually been pushed up two days to come out on Valentine's Day. This means "Madame Web" will be the next installment of Sony's Spider-Verse. "Kraven the Hunter" was originally set to come out on October 6, but it's been pushed back by nearly a whole year with its new spot of August 30, 2024.
Speaking of Spider-Verse, many fans will no doubt be disappointed that "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" no longer has a firm release date. "Across the Spider-Verse" was released on June 2 with a massive cliffhanger. "Beyond the Spider-Verse" was originally going to come out in less than a year on March 29, 2024. At the moment, it's currently "To Be Confirmed." In June, Gwen Stacy voice actress Hailee Steinfeld told The Hollywood Reporter she hadn't recorded anything for "Beyond the Spider-Verse" at that time, so there may still be a lot of work to be done on the movie.
It could take months for a resolution to be found, so moviegoers should prepare for many more delays to follow, which all comes down to movie studio CEOs' greed and unwillingness to pay artists what they're worth.