Universal Pictures has moved up the release date of Nobody, a new action movie directed by Ilya Naishuller and starring Bob Odenkirk. According to a report by Deadline, the film will now debut on Friday, March 26 instead of its previous date of Friday, April 2. The move may be an attempt to capitalize on a few open theaters as competitors go straight to streaming services.
Nobody is a new action-drama starring Odenkirk as an unassuming family man whose dark past is reawakened by a home invasion. His wife (Connie Nielsen) and son (Gage Munroe) are disappointed when he does not intervene in the robbery, not knowing that he previously worked a mysterious, violent job. He then goes on a violent spree for justice and vengeance, laid out in the movie’s trailer. other stars include RZA, Aleksei Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd and Paisley Cadorath.
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The movie was written by Derek Kolstad, the co-creator of John Wick, and shares many tropes with the acclaimed action film. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California starting in September of 2019, but its release has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deadline speculates that Nobody may be coming out earlier than planned to capitalize on the re-opening of movie theaters in New York City. On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the city would be allowed to reopen theaters on Friday, March 5 at reduced capacity. Universal may have pushed Nobody up in the schedule so that it would have something to show in the big apple.
The schedule change slightly alters the line-up that Nobody will be competing against. Previously, it would have shared a weekend with Godzilla vs. Kong, which is premiering both in theaters and on HBO Max, along with all the other WarnerMedia releases this year. Now, Nobody has a week’s head start while Godzilla vs. Kong premieres on Wednesday, March 31.
The constant schedule fluctuations within the movie industry were initially a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but now it is also a sign of the major shifts in how studios want to do business. WarnerMedia may have opened the floodgates in a way by promising to put its 2021 slate up on its streaming service at the same time it hits theaters. However, if Nobody can stand its ground, it may prove to some that theatrical exclusives still stand a chance in the age of the coronavirus.
