Movie release plans forced to change due to calls for social distancing.

by Garrett Spagone

No film is safe from the inhibiting capabilities of COVID-19. Just about every single movie planned with a 2020 release date has been delayed to some extent, and for good reason too. With social distancing being the new norm, gathering an entire cast and crew for shooting is not exactly feasible.

When the pandemic first began it was initially thought that animated movies such as Scoob!, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run and Minions: the Rise of Gru might be spared the delays as they don’t require large amounts of people in the one space. This, however, is not the case. Scoob! has been postponed indefinitely, the Spongebob movie has been delayed from May 22 to July 31, and the Minions movie will now be coming out July 2, 2021, a full year after its initial date.

These aren’t nearly the most anticipated movies this year either. The world was looking forward to continuations of some of their favorite movie series. There have been delays put on the new Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious, and Matrix movies just to name a few.

When asked his stance on the current status of big-name movies, former 4Cs student and current movie enthusiast Ryan Merlino said, “I can only laugh because if I don’t laugh, I will cry.”

Others don’t find themselves as affected by these delays as others. When asked if he was upset by a lack of new movies being released, current 4Cs student Zachary McSherry simply stated, “I don’t need new movies to entertain me, that’s what videogames are for…”

Any given person’s feelings towards the situation is relative to their involvement in the medium, but regardless of those feelings, at least the reasons for these delays aren’t without reason. The virus is finally starting to show signs of slowing down and putting the world on hold is simply what we must do to help that happen faster.

“We’re in the midst of a global crisis,” said Jon Landau, film producer to the Avatar franchise, after it’s four planned sequels had their filming in New Zealand delayed indefinitely. “And this is not about the film industry. I think everybody needs to do now whatever we can do, as we say here, to flatten the curve.”

There are much bigger problems in the world right now than not being able to watch the next big film. One should consider themselves lucky if their biggest complaint right now is in regard to a movie delay.

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