‘The Sopranos’, Elvis Presley Movies Delayed Due to Coronavirus Pandemic

Many of the most anticipated TV shows and movies in production have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and more titles are still being added. Release dates as far out as 2022 are being rescheduled as studios try to determine when it will be safe to put an entire crew back to work on a physical set again. The products themselves are even making compromises in the hopes of speeding up the process.

Upcoming movies like the feature prequel to The Sopranos, The Many Saints of Newark, will not be out for some time. According to a report by Deadline, the movie’s projected release date just fell back from Sept. 25, 2020 to March 12, 2021. Likewise, Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley movie was supposed to come out on Oct. 1, but is now slated for Nov. 25, 2021. Luhrmann’s movie was just getting underway in Australia when star Tom Hanks was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Now, the Elvis movie will reportedly share an opening weekend with Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Many more of 2020’s likely hits have been relegated to 2021 as well, such as King Richard starring Will Smith, pushed back from this November to next.

Meanwhile, some filmmakers are adjusting their plans for movies in order to come as close to their schedules as possible. Matt Reeves, director of The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, told reporters that he has decided to finish the rest of his movie in London, where production halted when the virus broke out. The project was supposed to change locations, but Reeves wants to keep production in place at its previous location in the hopes of finishing faster.

Reeves said that The Batman is about a quarter of the way through shooting, and he is currently using his down time to sift through footage. So far, the movie’s project release date has only fallen back from June 25, 2021 to Oct. 1, 2021.

Other superhero titles are scheduled out for years to come, and in some cases, they have actually moved up the schedule. For example, Warner Bros. reportedly moved up The Flash from July 1, 2022 to June 3 of the same year, while at the same time pushing Shazam 2 from April of 2022 back to November 2022.

The importance of movies like this may become clearer as the supply of new shows and movies begins to really impact viewers. So far, only live shows have really been effected, but some worry that the fall TV schedule is going to look slim later this year. Thankfully, many writers have assured fans that they are still hard at work with the one part of the process they are able to do from home.