‘Barbenheimer’ Is a Huge Hollywood Moment and Maybe the Last for a While

Already, some upcoming movies have had their launch plans modified because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The Helen Mirren drama “White Bird” and A24’s Julio Torres comedy “Problemista” had been alleged to launch in August and at the moment are with out an official launch date, whereas “Challengers,” a tennis romance starring Zendaya, on Friday abdicated its prestigious slot because the opening-night title on the Venice Film Festival, which begins Aug. 30. That movie, just like the Emma Stone comedy “Poor Things,” had been set for theatrical launch in September as a way to capitalize on a starry press push at Venice. Now “Challengers” has moved to April 2024, in line with Deadline.

Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival will announce their full lineups subsequent week, and although these slates have the possibility to construct on the movie-loving momentum supplied by “Barbenheimer” weekend, many surprise in the event that they’ll be missing the starry status titles studios usually ship there. “If ‘Oppenheimer’ were a fall movie and I was taking it to Toronto, I think we’d probably at this point have decided not to take it,” stated that movie’s awards strategist, Tony Angelotti, citing the price of reserving journey and lodging for the solid and makers of a significant film: “Would they refund your money if the strike continues?”

While Hollywood braces itself for the subsequent strike-related shoe to drop, Scott Sanders is feeling an unwelcome case of déjà vu. As one of many producers of a brand new movie-musical adaptation of “The Color Purple,” Sanders has spent months poring over a meticulous launch technique for the Fantasia Barrino-led movie, due in theaters on Christmas Day. But all of that arduous work may very well be dashed if Warner Bros. delays the film, because it did three years in the past with one other Sanders-produced musical: “In the Heights” was pushed a full 12 months to June 2021 due to the pandemic, after which launched concurrently in theaters and on HBO Max.

Sanders stated the studio has assured him that, to date, no discussions have been had about bumping “The Color Purple” into 2024. Still, he stated, “If the other big tentpole holiday movies or awards-bait films start to shift, frankly, I’m going to be nervous.” He added, “The optimist in me thinks we have six or seven more weeks before we have to start taking Pepto Bismol.”

The hype round “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” might rekindle a love for moviegoing, Sanders stated, however there could be few titles left to capitalize on it. “Are we going to keep the momentum going from this weekend?” he stated. “Or are we going to suddenly pull the emergency stop in the next month or two and go back to square one again?”

If that twine is pulled, it’ll have a major ripple impact. Theaters which are barely again from the brink because the pandemic could be examined as soon as once more, whereas the movies that had been already dated for 2024 could be pressured to unlock area. And with out the same old inflow of year-end status movies, this 12 months’s awards season might look very completely different — and, in one other means, all-too-familiar.

“Worst-case scenario, every studio on the planet decides to move their fourth-quarter movies into next year,” Sanders mused. “Suddenly, the last contenders for awards are ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer.’ Then what happens?”