As Disney’s Mulan joins Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on the “indefinitely delayed” list, the world braces itself for a gluttony of C-grade streaming releases.
Delayed three times now, Disney has decided enough is enough and pulled the pin on their summer blockbuster entirely. As cases of COVID-19 continue to wreck havoc in both America and many of their major foreign markets the decision has been made to delay the film indefinitely in favour or releasing it on the company’s streaming platform Disney+.
The same is sadly true of Christopher Nolan’s noodle-bending blockbuster Tenet, delayed twice and ultimately shelved until it can be more liberally cashed-in with a full theatrical release.
AT&T (whom own Warner Brothers believe it or not) had their CEO, John Stankey, come out this week and unequivocally put a pin in the film’s release saying that whilst some films – such as “Scooby Doo” — may pivot to streaming services “[He] can assure you on ‘Tenet’ that’s not going to be the case”.
An IMAX release like Nolan’s other films (each of which grossed more that US$500m in box-office sales), you can understand studio hesitation, but with no end in sight to the global pandemic how long is it before studios find themselves in a hole that forces their hand?
Stankey also eluded to the delay of Wonder Woman 1984 and had no hesitation in saying there could be more.
Currently there are more than 17 major titles with indefinitely delayed or unknown release dates from major studios.