With the COVID-19 outbreak, many aspects of our lives have changed. One of the big changes has to do with the huge number of movie delays that have either been pushed back or have not been given a new release date. Some delays include No Time to Die, Wonder Woman 1984, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, and F9 (Fast and Furious). Most places and events where big gatherings usually happen have been closed as well. It only makes sense that theaters are next in line. 

The movies that were in theaters during this time are now on VOD (video on demand). A film like Invisible Man is already able to purchase and own digitally. This is a great way of getting consumers to be able to watch the new movies without having to go to the theaters and risk getting sick. The only downside is that if you wanted to watch it on a big screen you can’t, but it’s better to have it out there so movie companies can make some money back as theater chains around the globe have closed. It also helps with social distancing as people could binge watch all these new releases at home. 

The question now is when everything comes back to normal, how will the movies that got delayed fit into the movie calendar release window? Saying that the Coronavirus stops sometime before late summer, will they all be released in the last few months or be moved up to sometime in 2021? This could create some box office craziness as big movies will dominate over each other and not allow friendly competition as so many movies would be releasing days or even weeks apart. For the most part, films that haven’t been delayed yet (from the date this article was written) are still good to go, such as Christopher Nolan’s Tenent. While there are rumours about movies being released on VOD instead of a full theatrical release, the chance of that happening are slim. The new Spiral movie coming out has confirmed that they’ll not release it digitally and the same goes for F9 (Fast and Furious). The interesting thing is that F10 was supposed to come out next year but F9 has taken the spot that year. 

Another big impact are movies that were filming and have had to stop production on filmmaking. Movies such as The Matrix 4, Avatar sequels, and Mission Impossible 7 have had to stop. There’s no word yet on whether or not this delay will impact their original release date. At the end of the day the President, film companies, the governors, and health officials are doing everything they can to stop this virus and keep the people safe, even if that means less access to hobbies we do.