The Jackass crew will do just about anything, but chancing a poor box office return for their latest film is out of the question (via Deadline).
Today, Paramount announced the Jackass Forever delay and several other changes to its slate of tentpole films. Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7 have already been moved, and now Jackass Forever is also changing dates. The latest film in the Jackass series is now set for February 4, 2022, instead of October 22, 2021.
But why move Jackass Forever of all films? Well, first, let’s not be reductive. After all, isn’t a movie engaging in life-threatening stunts and pranks just as cinematic as a Tom Cruise action vehicle? Let’s not forget, the Jackass crew does all of their own stunts as well. Do you want to know the real deal, though? Okay, I’ll tell you. It appears as if Paramount didn’t want to pick and choose which movies would be delayed in the face of Covid-19 concerns. They feel that all of their filmmakers deserve a fair shot at rocking the box office and if they need to push movies until 2022 to it, dammit, that’s what they’ll do. This does, however, leave Paramount without any releases for the remainder of 2021. Man, remember when everyone thought this pandemic would last three weeks at the most? Those sure were good times.
The sad reality is that the Delta variant of the Covid-19 pandemic is alive and well. It’s affecting everything from in-person workspaces to indoor concerts and beyond. I won’t even mention what it’s doing to hospitals and healthcare workers. Until we can get a handle on the situation, theaters will continue to struggle.
Things aren’t all gloom and doom, though. Productions continue to operate under strict Covid-19 protocols, which means that we’ll have plenty to look forward to in 2022. Maybe a bit too much? I’ll tell you what, the battle for prime box office space is going to be fierce AF next year, and analysts are going to need to be on their toes to keep up. I hope that things return to some semblance of “normal” soon because folks are getting restless, and we still have a long way to go until the majority of people will feel safe again.