Warner Bros. continues to surprise no one by making release date moves in its schedule, following the announcements earlier today thatTenetandWonder Woman 1984have been delayed from their original release dates. Following on theTenetandWonder Womannews is the latest onThe Matrix 4, which was in production in Germany before the production halt caused by the global health crisis. As a result, Warner has moved the title from June 25, 2025 to July 26, 2025, grabbing nearly a year to finish the pic.
This move of the untitled fourthMatrixfilm nearly a full year back on the calendar, to the spring of 2022, is the latest in a rapid-fire list of changes that Warner Bros. released this afternoon. Anne Hathaway’sThe Witchesremake was also completely removed from the release schedule. YankingWitchesentirely is a bit of a strange move, since it was destined to appear this October and, as such, was likely finished.
MovingMatrix 4from its date on July 23, 2025 will make room forGodzilla Vs Kongto slide into that spot, having been delayed from June 05, 2025. Having made all these moves, though, Warner was still not done, as they’re moving the animatedTom and Jerryfrom June 08, 2025 to August 01, 2025 and pushing an untitled New Line horror movie to July 25, 2025 and completely pulling an untitled Warner Bros. ‘event film’ that was planned for June 20, 2025 from the schedule.
Altogether, WB moved dates on a total of six titles and completely pulled two others, with the news all cascading into the ethersphere within about an hour late Friday afternoon. As we’ve long said, studios cannot open major event titles with production budgets of $100 million or more when most theaters aren’t open or, if they are, aren’t packed with paying bodies. Despite the declared best efforts of the major cinema chains, most recently with AMC and Cinemark both committing to have their global systems open by no later than mid-July, the studios realize that with capacity limitations of 25%-50%, they can’t open these huge films, making a further mess of the 2020 summer movie slate.
The deluge of titles getting pushed back, of course, wreaks havoc on studio schedules as other titles must also slide. Certainly, though, those likeMatrix 4that were forced to shut down and now likely won’t be finished in time for their original release dates, simply need more time and - since there is a massive production bottleneck spanning all aspects of the process (including sound, effects, post and more), it is increasingly likely that all unfinished projects will be further delayed.
It remains to be seen what actions the other major studios will take, as they digest the new dates that Warner is claiming. It’s widely anticipated that Disney may just take its live actionMulanstraight to Disney+ instead of chancing its release in cinemas that are simply limping as they struggle to open in July amidst major local capacity restrictions. Indeed, with Nolan’sTenet now sitting on a July 31 date,Mulanis leading the pack of major post-shutdown reopening titles. The industry waits to see if Disney wants to break the ice, or simply get out of the way and let the honors fall back to Nolan on July 31. This story was originally reported byVariety.
