Box Office: Universal Will Open ‘No Time To Die,’ ‘F9,’ ‘Minions 2’ And ‘Jurassic World 3’ Within Eight Months

Universal got dealt a bum hand by the coronavirus-related closures, but delays and rescheduling gives it four huge tentpole titles between Thanksgiving of 2020 and Independence Day weekend of 2021.

Universal made a few big moves this morning, specifically dating Minions 2: The Rise of Gru for July 2, 2021 (instead of July 3, 2020) and moving Sing 2 from July 2, 2021 to December 22, 2021. Meanwhile, the live-action Wicked, which was announced way back in June of 2016, has been tossed out of its Christmas 2021 release date for parts unknown. Like F9 moving to the April 2, 2021 slot previously occupied by Fast & Furious 10, the Minions sequel is moving a year and just taking the place of the Sing sequel, swapping one Illumination movie for another. And now Sing 2 will open five years to the weekend from the previous Sing.

I’d argue Universal took the biggest hit from theater closures and release date changes related to the coronavirus. They were able to mostly shrug off the back-to-back disasters of Cats ($95 million on a $95 million budget) and Dolittle ($223 million/$175 million) because they had three likely mega-movies on tap. While are distributing No Time to Die overseas (while MGM handles it domestically), but that 007 film will now open not this month but in November of this year. Meanwhile, F9 has been moved from May 22, 2020 to April 2, 2021 while Minions 2 has moved from July 3, 2020 to July 2, 2021. Theaters stayed open for Universal’s recent flops but not their expected mega-hits.

Of all the movies that were directly impacted by the sudden theater closures, Blumhouse’s acclaimed and buzzy The Invisible Man ($124.5 million in 17 days on a $7 million budget) was the one that was a hit movie that hadn’t mostly finished up its theatrical run. The others either bombed (Bloodshot, The Hunt, The Way Back, Onward) or had mostly run their course in theaters (Bad Boys for Life, Sonic the Hedgehog, Birds of Prey). I Still Believe is an arguable coin toss in this regard, but I digress. The good news is that they clearly think they can weather the storm and merely toss their big 2020 releases to late 2020 or the first half of 2021.

Yes, I will argue that studios not just delaying their movies but setting firm new release dates is a sign of relative optimism. This is also where the whole “studio sets releases dates for untitled franchise installment” gimmick has come in handy. So Universal can just swap out F9 for Fast 10, and one big Illumination sequel for another. For that matter, Disney can always just drop Black Widow in November while Eternals heads to February and Shang-Chi heads to May of 2021 and so-forth. As for Mulan, that’s trickier, since Chinese New Year is also February 12, or the date currently reserved by Shang-Chi (or Eternals if it comes to that).

The delays and rescheduling positions Comcast
CMCSA
’s Universal to have an even bigger 2021 slate. Next year was always going to be a biggie, with three series finales (Jurassic World: Dominion, Fast & Furious 10 and Halloween Ends) along with Sing 2 and a new M. Night Shyamalan movie. Wicked was supposed to close the year, but Sing 2 will do that accordingly. If Sing can thrive alongside Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, then we’ll presume that Sing 2 will be okay against Avatar 2. But this rescheduling means that next year will, as of this moment, see all three of Universal’s biggest franchises (Minions, Jurassic and The Fast Saga) all offer installments in a single year.

The last time that happened was 2015, where Furious 7 ($1.517 billion), Jurassic World ($1.671 billion) and Minions ($1.1 billion) powered Universal to a record $2.446 billion global cume and a victory in terms of overall market share. While those pie-in-the-sky predecessors may not be fair comparison points, Universal is still planning on Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World 3 opening on June 11, 2021 as initially scheduled. Moreover, Disney’s “smaller by comparison” 2020 slate (which was never expected to approach their 2019 heights) may end up being their “smaller by comparison” 2021 slate instead, especially if Avatar 2 doesn’t make its December release and/or Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder ends up in 2022.

There is obviously much about this that is up in the air, including when theaters will re-open and how long it’ll take audiences to feel comfortable sitting in a crowded multiplex again. But the long-lead release dates offered by Sony (with Ghostbusters Afterlife and Morbious moved to March) and Universal (with F9 and Minions 2 moved a year into the future) implies a light at the end of the tunnel. And if all goes well, then Universal, which got comparatively screwed this year (theaters were open in time for their flops, but closed before their face-saving hits), will be in a prime position to have a sequel to its aspirational 2015 slate.