When Will We See These Five High-Profile Movies Delayed By The Pandemic?
At the beginning of 2020, the entertainment industry seemed to be moving forward full-steam ahead, even if the news began turning its sights to the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
Bad Boys for Life and Sonic the Hedgehog were major hits out of the gate, and there were myriad big ticket movies with expensive Super Bowl trailers that fans were awaiting. But when COVID-19 spread to the United States and began overwhelming the healthcare system, the world came to a grinding halt, and the movie business effectively shut down, putting every major title in limbo.
Though smaller titles would find success at drive-in theaters and video-on-demand while conventional movie theaters were shuttered, it would take nearly six months for major releases to return to newly re-opened cinemas, and almost one year until theaters nationwide would be able to operate at full capacity. Long-awaited titles like Tenet, Promising Young Woman, and Monster Hunter would underperform while audiences were still reticent to return, but following the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines and relaxed attendance mandates, the movie industry slowly but surely recovered, with Kong vs. Godzilla, F9, and Spider-Man: No Way Home leading the charge.
In 2022, it seems that in-theater moviegoing is back on a more reliable basis for Hollywood, especially with a strong President’s Day box office weekend that saw respectable openings for both Uncharted and Dog. But there are still a number of high-profile movies from the 2020 release calendar that have yet to hit the silver screen, some of which remain lost in the shuffle to this day.
1.The Comeback Trail
Premiere Date: October 9, 2020
Trailer Date: September 4, 2020
Initial Release Date: November 13, 2020
Current Release Date: TBA
Sporting an all-star cast that includes Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Zach Braff, and Eddie Griffin, The Comeback Trail is the remake of a 1982 film about sleazy movie producers who cook up a scheme to pay off their mafia debts by collecting the insurance money from the not-so-accidental death of his lead actor. However, the actor in question not only survives the attempts on his life, but finds himself reinvigorated by the experience and determined to make the best film of his career.
Described as a “fun journey through the underbelly of Hollywood,” The Comeback Trail was initially slated for release in the midst of theater reopenings in the fall of 2020 following its world premiere at the 2020 Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival. The trailer for The Comeback Trail has played before a number of films in the months that followed, as its November 2020 release was scrapped and replaced by a generic “Coming Soon” banner.
The film’s US distributor, Cloudburst Entertainment, is reportedly committed to the theatrical release in 2022, but the film’s outlook has been more uncertain with each passing day. As of this writing, The Comeback Trail has been released on video-on-demand platforms in the United Kingdom.
2.Deep Water
Premiere Date: N/A
Trailer Date: February 14, 2022
Initial Release Date: November 13, 2020
Current Release Date: March 18, 2022
A modern adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s controversial 1957 novel, Deep Water had landed on the radars of many due to its intriguing circumstances, from the involvement of ‘90s erotic thriller mastermind Adrian Lyne to the casting of then-couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas to even the salacious subject matter of the script. For those unfamiliar with the project, Deep Water tells the story of an unhappy married couple who are embroiled in a deadly mystery targeting those caught in their torrid affairs.
With a price tag of nearly $50 million, Deep Water was earmarked as a major release for 20th Century Studios, though the film shifted release dates to August 2021 and January 2022 when it became apparent the COVID-19 pandemic was far from over. Upon the Omicron variant surge in late 2021, the film was removed from 20th Century Films’ theatrical calendar entirely, leaving its future in limbo as rumors regarding a digital release began to surface.
Sure enough, Valentine’s Day in 2022 brought a gift for those following the film in the form of some serious concrete details, including a release date via Hulu in March 2022. Furthermore, the film dropped its first trailer, one that was unsurprisingly steamy given the salacious source material.
3.Top Gun: Maverick
Premiere Date: TBD
Trailer Date: July 18, 2019
Initial Release Date: June 26, 2020
Current Release Date: May 27, 2022
A sequel more than 35 years in the making, Top Gun: Maverick was set to be one of the biggest releases of 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Tom Cruise helping to usher in Top Gun to a new generation, including Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Manny Jacinto, this summer blockbuster’s use of practical flight stunts and nostalgia for spectacle was a recipe for repeat business and global appeal.
Paramount’s release date shuffle was fairly one of optimism, at first setting a late December 2020 release in tune with vaccine projections and reopening goalposts. Yet the studios’ insistence that the film play as intended on the biggest screen possible forced Top Gun: Maverick to fly further down the calendar, ultimately targeting a date in May 2022.
With the current climate in media and culture, Top Gun: Maverick looks like it’s going to finally stick the landing after nearly two long years on the shelf, even missing a 4K theatrical re-release of the original film in the summer of 2021. Considering Paramount seems to correlate Top Gun’s release with that of Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise, Top Gun: Maverick’s big-screen debut will likely put a cap on the last major missing release of the COVID-19 pandemic era.
4.Run Sweetheart Run
World Premiere Date: January 27, 2020
Trailer Date: February 28, 2020
Initial Release Date: May 8, 2020
Current Release Date: TBA
Produced by Blumhouse Productions and directed by Shana Feste, Run Sweetheart Run follows a single mother (Ella Balinska) who goes on a blind date with a charming, magnetic stranger (Pilou Asbæk). However, the stranger proves to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, sending the single mother running for her life through the streets of Los Angeles.
Following its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the first trailer for Run Sweetheart Run was attached to The Invisible Man, set for a theatrical release in May courtesy of Blumhouse’s BH Tilt distribution platform. Yet a few weeks after The Invisible Man hit theaters, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world to shut down, with Run Sweetheart Run immediately pulled from its release date.
In late May 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Amazon Studios acquired Run Sweetheart Run, skipping a theatrical run entirely for release on Amazon Prime Video. In the nearly two years since, there has been radio silence on Run Sweetheart Run, with the trailer no longer available online and no announcements regarding when/if the film will be released on the streamer.
5.Morbius
Premiere Date: TBD
Trailer Date: January 13, 2020
Initial Release Date: July 10, 2020
Current Release Date: April 1, 2022
It’s been a long road for the next entry in Sony’s Spider-Verse, which will introduce the vampire anti-hero Michael Morbius to the big screen with Jared Leto in the title role. Of course, Morbius has an all-star cast, with former Doctor Who Matt Smith as an antagonist and the likes of Tyrese Gibson, Jared Harris, Adria Arjona, and Michael Keaton in supporting roles, as well as the Marvel machine behind it.
However, no one at Sony could have predicted that this chapter in their MCU-adjacent saga would be lapped by both Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home, as both had nary even a first look still when Morbius had a full trailer and summer release date. Nevertheless, Morbius has undergone no less than six release date changes since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with some attributed to audience confidence while others were rumored to be parts of reshoots aimed at lining the film’s timeline with No Way Home.
From recent trends in health statistics and the strength of recent box office releases, it looks as if Morbius will be coming to life on April Fool’s Day. But has enough damage been done on this superhero-horror hybrid to prevent the vampiric vigilante from taking flight, whether it be in future solo outings, crossovers, or even the potential MCU appearance in the upcoming Blade?
