With reported cases of the coronavirus surging, Warner Bros. on Thursday postponed the release of Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," further delaying Hollywood's summer kickoff.
The sci-fi thriller starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson will move from July 31 to Aug. 12, a Wednesday. In a statement, the studio stressed the need for flexibility.
"We are choosing to open the movie mid-week to allow audiences to discover the film in their own time, and we plan to play longer, over an extended play period far beyond the norm, to develop a very different yet successful release strategy," a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement.
Movie theaters had been pinning their hopes on the film as a major July release that could bring audiences back to theaters.
Warner Bros. had planned to re-release Nolan's 2010 blockbuster "Inception" in early July as a way to lead in to "Tenet." "Inception" will now open on July 31, the studio said.
Movie theater chains had planned the widespread reopening of cinemas partially around the return of new releases like "Tenet" and Disney's "Mulan." The latter is currently scheduled for July 24 but it, too, is widely expected to be postponed again. On Wednesday, Disneyland in California also pushed back its reopening.
With reported COVID-19 cases surging in Texas, Arizona, Florida and elsewhere, the earlier plans for a nationwide mid-July cinema restart became uncertain. On Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York would delay reopening cinemas while it continued to research the safety of indoor, air-conditioned venues.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More