Just Like 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,' These 2022 Releases Have All Been Pushed To 2023...And Not All Because Of Covid
For some reason or another, it's inevitable that not every film slated for a Hollywood release gets to come out on time.
Such is the case for the highly-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse; according to screenwriter Chris Miller, the film is being pushed back eight months. His reason?
The film was originally supposed to come out on April 8, 2022, but then Covid-related complications forced a six-month jump to October 7. Now, fans can expect to see the next Spider-Verse film - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - on June 2, 2023 - and part two (yes, it's a film in two parts) is penciled in for March 29, 2024.
There's been a lot of that going around lately - which makes sense, because for two years now Covid-19 has upended literally any plan any of us tried to make, and the film industry is no exception. Over the past couple of years, COVID has delayed pretty much every movie in some way or another.
Still, now that we're mostly (fingers crossed) out of the dark when it comes to that aspect of things, some movies that were slated for a 2022 release have still had to be pushed to 2023 since they were announced - because when all's said and done, a global pandemic is definitely NOT the only thing that can cause delays.
Scroll through this list and make sure one of them wasn't a film you were waiting for - hopefully, if it is, there's a good reason.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Original Release Date: December 16, 2022
New Release Date: March 17, 2023
As will be the story with many of these films, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom was delayed simply because of Covid. They were not yet set to begin filming when the pandemic hit, but they were close - so when they couldn't actually begin until June 2021, the release date of the film naturally had to be bumped back a few months. (It's only three though, which, all things considered, isnt' that bad.)
That said, this move could also have been a tentative one, giving them the space they needed in case they had to fire Amber Heard in the aftermath of Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against her - which, according to early murmurings after the second day of the trial, seems like it may just be exactly what happens.
Dungeons and Dragons
Original Release Date: July 23, 2021; November 19, 2021; May 27, 2022
New Release Date: March 3, 2023
The Dungeons and Dragons team is playing their cards pretty close to the vest on this one: We know that the first time it was moved, from July to November of 2021, it was to accommodate the release of Mission Impossible 7. Then it was moved again, due to the low turnout in theater caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the most recent move, from May of this year to March of next, has not been explained at all - filming wrapped in August of 2021.
Indiana Jones 5
Original Release Date: July 19, 2019;
New Release Date: June 30, 2023
Originally announced way back in 2016, Indiana Jones 5 was decidedly NOT delayed by Covid. It was originally stalled in pre-production phases as the team tried to come up with ideas for a new story. It was then pushed back to 2020 so that director Steven Spielberg could work on Ready Player One.
Struggling to find screenwriters still in 2018 after it was announced that Shia LaBeouf would not be returning as Mutt, the film was pushed back once again, to 2021. Then two different screenwriters went head to head over completely different scripts, in a battle that eventually ended in Speilberg stepping down as director.
Once James Mangold was confirmed as the new director in May of 2020, they began writing a script in earnest - but the film was pushed back one more time, to its current intended release date.
Filming began in June.
John Wick: Chapter 4
Original Release Date: May 21, 2021; May 27 2022
New Release Date: March 24, 2023
The highly anticipated fourth installment of the famed John Wick franchise, starring Keanu Reeves, has been pushed back several times: First, due to the pandemic (filming didn't even start until a month after the initial planned release date), then to avoid coming out on the same day as The Matrix: Resurrections, then again due to more unforseen pandemic delays.
Mission Impossible 7
Original Release Date: July 23, 2021; November 19, 2021; May 27, 2022; September 30, 2022
New Release Date: July 14, 2023
Mission Impossible 7 was almost screwed seven ways to Sunday when it came to Covid shutdowns - and that's not all that hurth them. The were supposed to begin filming - in Italy, of all places - when the Covid-19 lockdowns first began. Then, they moved to England instead, but they had to take a hiatus there too.
Luckily for them, the crew was given special permission to continue filming without quarantining for 14 days first, so they were able to keep filming sooner than they would have.
They got similar permission in Norway, but then they were delayed again when a large fire broke out on a motorcycle stunt rig - one of the most expensive ever made. Nobody was hurt, but the scene had taken six weeks to prepare, so that was a lot of lost time.
Then, on top of all that, 12 members of the fim crew fell ill with Covid, causing them to halt production again - you may remember the story from right after they started up again, where Tom Cruise went off on some people on set for not wearing masks. (Now you have a lot more context as to why he was so frustrated.)
The Flash
Original Release Date: March 23, 2018; March 16, 2018; July 1, 2022; June 3, 2022; November 4, 2022
New Release Date: June 23, 2023(?)
The Flash was a movie that had already had its release dates moved several times even before the Covid-19 pandemic. First, it had its initial release date from the original DCEU announcement moved up by a week. Then that theater slot was given to Tomb Raider instead, leaving The Flash movie wtih a TBD on the release date.
The film was then placed on the backburner until a new director, Andy Muschietti, was hired in 2019, when they put the film back on the calendar for July of 2022.
They once again moved the release up by a month just before having to shelve it altogether, because the pandemic then came along and forced everyone to re-adjust their estimates on The Flash's release date.
When the original estimate of 2022 wasn't enough time to get the film together, they pushed it to 2023...and then Ezra Miller flew off the handle in a big way, and now the whole project has been shelved for the forseeable future.
The Marvels
Original Release Date: November 11, 2022
New Release Date: February 17, 2023
The Marvels is another film whose delay was simple: It was just because of Covid. The Captain Marvel sequel hadn't even begun pre-production before everything shut down - but there were still delays related to Covid in the film industry even after that.
Still the date was only pushed up three months, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't that bad at all.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Original Release Date: June 24, 2022
New Release Date: June 9, 2023
This one is only delayed at all because they'd been planning it since 2018. Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts has been in the works for quite some time, but they changed the release date in November of 2021 when it was clear that they were more than eight months from finishing.
Untitled 'A Quiet Place' Spinoff Film
Original Release Date: March 31, 2023
New Release Date: September 22, 2023
The yet untitled spinoff film for John Krasinski's chilling thriller A Quiet Place wasn't exactly delayed because of Covid - more as a side-effect of other Covid delays. Paramount pushed its release date back by six months at the same time they pushed back the release of Mission Impossible 7, which tells us that it probably has more to do with their internal scheduling than anything else.
It's like a supply chain issue, but for the movies!
Wonka
Original Release Date: March 17, 2023
New Release Date: December 15, 2023
We put this one at the bottom because the studio literally pushed this movie back without giving a reason. Warner Brothers announced its pushback along with a host of others, including one of the many for The Flash.
Deadline hypothesized at the time that the mass delays were likely due to "logjam many post-prod effects houses are facing as productions ramped up during Covid." The filming may have been done, but there are only so many VFX companies on this Earth.