Today must be a national holiday for release dates, because we just got a slew of new release info from Fox, laying out everything nerds and movie buffs are eagerly waiting for. The big ones regard X-MEN and the AVATAR movies, but there’s also been some shifts regarding some smaller films and other franchise favorites, including the upcoming PREDATOR film and MAZE RUNNER sequel.
Let’s kick this off with the slew of release shifts. For starters, THE PREDATOR has been moved back about six months from February 9, 2018 to August 3, 2018. As well, MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE will move into that February 9 slot, moving back from January 12.
Next we have the Kenneth Branagh-directed MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, which is moving up two weeks from November 22 this year to November 10. In that November 10 spot was the Jennifer Lawrence spy thriller RED SPARROW, which is moving back to March 2, 2018.
As for actual release announcements there’s the Steven Spielberg film (presumably THE POST with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, which was reported to be on the fast track for this year) arriving in limited release December 22 this year, before going wide January 12. There’s also THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (coming September 28, 2018), WIDOWS (November 16, 2018) and the Queen biopic BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (December 25, 2018) – which are all going wide.
Whew. All done.
The bummer obviously involves THE PREDATOR coming six months late, but at least that leaves more time to work on it, and it will have better legs in the less crowded August market. Any year is a good year for Spielberg, especially when it’s his Oscar-caliber work, and especially when it stars Hanks and Streep. All in all between all this going on and the X-MEN movies the next year and a half is gonna be a busy one for Fox, with a ton of potentially great movies heading our way. I may have a total, two-month-long nerdgasm with DEADPOOL and PREDATOR coming out in June and August.