Since the beginning of 2020 the landscape of the entertainment industry has changed tremendously, but especially in the case of the film industry specifically. With the way that COVID-19 disrupted not just production on films across the world but also their release and distribution as well, the film industry was forced to adapt more than the majority of other industries and employ business tactics unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Even today as conditions have improved substantially around the globe some of these tactics are still being utilized, allowing the companies releasing these projects much more flexibility than ever before. Case in point, Paramount Pictures has announced plans this week to shake up their release schedule and give a few impending films such as Scream 6, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Babylon new release dates as a result.
While they aren’t changing the release dates of these projects too drastically, Paramount is electing to change the release dates of the aforementioned all within 6 months of their originally intended release dates. First we saw Damien Chazelle’s Babylon featuring a heavyweight castt that includes Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie get moved up from Christmas Day of this year to December 23rd in a very surprising move by Paramount, but they aren’t alone. The latest in a beloved horror franchise, Scream 6 will now release three weeks earlier than intended moving from March 31st, 2023 to March 10th and will follow the group of teenagers led by Melissa Barrera as they aim to deal with the latest batch of murders committeed by the infamous Ghostface. Then we have Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a film based upon the incredibly popular fantasy board game of the same name, which will instead be pushed back from March 3rd, 2023 to March 31st, bolstered by a cast that includes Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez amongst many others. While this could be good or bad news depending on which of these films you are most excited to see, one can’t help but wonder if Paramount is ready to do the same to more highly anticipated projects in the coming weeks and if so, which.
While changing a film’s release date used to be a sign of impending doom, the way films are distributed now has made the process of releasing projects much more liberal than ever before. With the prevalence of streaming, platforms such as Netflix and Hulu can deliver brand new films to consumers’ homes virtually at the snap of a finger. Paramount even has their own streaming service, Paramount+, which allows them even more flexibility in the release of their own projects. Fans may just have to remain patient as they decide to make use of said flexibility by changing the release dates of even the most highly anticipated projects.
