As the holiday movie season chugs on pundits and fans are already making their “most anticipated” lists for the spring and summer movie seasons. However, it’s difficult to make such lists when the release dates for these movies don’t…stay…still. They’re like dogs you tell to stay, but they won’t, and it’s frustrating. Not the most exciting analogy, but it’s applicable! If you need more proof you can look at the list of movies that have gotten bumped-up (ALIEN: COVENANT) or pushed back (DARK TOWER, KINGSMAN 2), a list that has just increased by six.
Let’s start at the beginning and least dramatic. The Dwayne Johnson/Zac Efron hot-people flick, BAYWATCH, has moved one whole week from May 19 to May 26. No doubt this was spurred by the bumped-up release of ALIEN: COVENANT to May 19, so they took the poster's advice and ran. Now BAYWATCH will be competing with two other anticipated flicks, PIRATES 5 and the Ryan Reynolds/Jake Gyllenhaal pic, LIFE. That would be true, if the latter also didn’t get a shift…which it did.
LIFE, the sci-fi thriller will has moved up two months up (based off positive trailer reaction, for one) to March 24, where along with POWER RANGERS Guy Ritchie’s KING ARTHUR picture was set to come out. Now in the midst of a crowded timeline ARTHUR has marched its English butt to May 12 where it will go head-to-head with another movie no one will see because they’re seeing GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY again, STRANDED with Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn.
However, March 24 will continue to stay crowded as the Dax Shepard adaptation of the hit TV show, CHiPS, will now move into that slot all the way from August 11, which will now be filled by ANNABELLE 2. That flick was scheduled to come out May 19, a date that now includes EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING (up from August 18) and that BAYWATCH previously fled. See, came full circle.
Don't worry, you’re justified in thinking I just described a seventh-grade love triangle. It’s not uncommon for movies to get a bit of a schedule shift, but for this many movies in such a short amount of time seems…panicky. The majority of these movies all have hopes for sequels behind them, so the studios want them to be as successful as possible.
The problem with that is the shifts won’t help most of these anyway. ARTHUR was set to go up against big films like RANGERS, yes, but that’s nothing compared to the line-up summer has in store for it. BAYWATCH faces the same level of competition, while CHiPS moved from a quiet release (it’s only competition being Edgar Wright’s BABY DRIVER in an otherwise uneventful month) into a much harsher line of fire. The only movie to really get a better deal was ANNABELLE, which now looks like it could be the biggest movie of August. Oh well, as long as I can see most of these movies I don't care if they come out in the made-up month of Goosh. I don't know which is your guys' most anticipated out of this bunch, but I'm sure you feel the same way. Let me guess, it's CHiPS.