Now that the lengthy, multi-month strike of the SAG-AFTRA union has finally come to a dramatic close, just like Will Ferrell’s character in Eastbound and Down screamed at his Kia employee, “You get back to work!” As Tinseltown starts its engines back up on all the productions that have been delayed, the studios have prepared for the logistics of rescheduling film shoots so it isn’t a giant mess of conflicts and over-bookings. This morning saw the immediate end of the actors’ strike weeks after the writers signed a historic new deal with the AMPTP.
Many projects will not start until January due to the upcoming holidays, but according to Deadline, studios have been in pre-production for the restarts of certain titles that were paused earlier this summer when the strike had commenced. Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 is nearly complete with principal photography as the director professed that there was just over a day left of shooting to do. That production will get right back to work this week or in the near future. Another film that had anxious fans waiting for completion is Deadpool 3. The movie from director, Shawn Levy, was 50% done when it shut down due to the strikes. Deadpool 3 is set to restart soon as well.
Tom Hardy’s third outing as the symbiote anti-hero, Venom 3, will also recommence soon. That film was just at the beginning of its production when it was shut down. Paramount’s Gladiator 2 will be resuming production soon, as well as Clint Eastwood’s newest film, Juror No. 2, which only had a dozen days left to go.
Before a settlement was reached between the two factions, Disney’s Bob Iger had been concerned that next summer’s movie season would face an unprecedented hardship if a deal failed to be agreed upon. Iger stated, “Obviously, we’d like to try to preserve a summer of films. The entire industry is focused on that. We don’t have much time to do that.” A source involved with a big-budget production told Deadline, “The desire for a juicy release date next year is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s at the corporate mandate of priority.”