In the wake of Warner Bros’ pushing the Robert De Niro gangster pic Alto Knights to later in 2024, release date changes are aplenty for Disney due to the actors strike, but also Jonathan Majors’ ongoing legal woes.
To no surprise, Searchlight won’t be opening the actor’s Sundance critically acclaimed drama Magazine Dreams on Dec. 8 as Majors faces a trail date on Nov. 29 for a domestic violence case involving his ex-girlfriend from March this year. No word on what happens next to Magazine Dreams, but if all goes well for Majors, the calendar will indeed require plenty of product in the New Year. Searchlight still has their Venice Film Festival winning Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthismos directed Poor Things going on Dec. 8, a title which is prized for awards season.
In regards to the actors strike’s impact on the Disney schedule: Forget about shifting 2024 movies deeper into next year; they’ve been completely subtracted and pushed to 2025.
Disney/Pixar’s Elio goes from March 1, 2024 to June 13, 2025, while the Rachel Zegler starring Snow White, which has generated a lot of controversy online, goes from March 22, 2024 to March 21, 2025.
There’s also an untitled Disney pic which is getting moved from Feb. 14, 2024 to April 5, 2024.
Disney recently pulled New Regency’s The Bikeriders from its planned December 1 theatrical launch, partly due to AMC’s Beyonce concert film on that day, but also due to the ongoing actors strike, and the starry cast of Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer’s inability to promote during awards season.
Majors’ year began vibrantly with awesome reviews of Magazine Dreams and Searchlight acquiring the movie for a potential awards season launch given the actor’s turn as a tormented amateur bodybuilder. Majors then had two tentpoles in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania in which he made the big screen debut (after an introduction on Disney+’s Loki season) as Kang The Conqueror; that movie grossing $476M global with Creed III making $275M-plus worldwide.