COVID-19 continues to plague the entertainment industry as the more contagious Delta variant continues to surge. It has been announced that A24's The Green Knight has been pulled from its UK theatrical release slot a mere two weeks before it was set to hit theaters in that market. The move was made by Entertainment Film Distributors (EFD) due to the COVID situation in the UK.
Despite the UK removing virtually all restrictions on July 19, their coronavirus situation continues to look bleak thanks to the growing spread of the Delta variant. Numbers have reportedly gotten close to 50K per day and it has prompted concerns of another lockdown. Despite the surge, movie theaters continue to be open in the area and, according to "Deadline", there is no immediate suggestion that they will be closed again.
This was also done for financial reasons. EFD usually supports its UK releases with some big marketing spend so they were likely worried that if the film kept its current date, the situation would've hurt its box office potential. The UK is also experiencing a heatwave along with the spread of the Delta variant and that tends to impact the box office as well.
The David Lowery-directed fantasy film starring Dev Patel is still going ahead with its U.S. release which is set for July 30, 2021. The film, based on the poem of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", is a fantasy adventure that tells the story of Sir Gawain (Patel), King Arthur's headstrong nephew, who embarks on a quest to confront the eponymous Knight, a gigantic tree-like creature. The movie also stars Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan, and Ralph Ineson.
Was the EFD right to pull The Green Knight's UK release over COVID concerns?