By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Hollywood's summer movie season is all but finished. "Top Gun Maverick" became the latest would-be blockbuster to be rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Paramount Pictures on Thursday announced that sequel to the 1986 original will now open Dec. 23 instead of June 24. "Top Gun Maverick," starring Tom Cruise and directed by Joseph Kosinski, follows an exodus of the big-budget spectacles that annually land in theaters in summertime.
Most of the season's top movies have in the last week departed the summer. With the pandemic's quickening spread, it remains uncertain when movie theaters will reopen, or how much appetite moviegoers will have to visit cinemas when they initially open their doors.
Summer is typically Hollywood's most lucrative time of year, when the studios unleash a barrage of sequels, superhero films and action movies. Last year, summer ticket sales accounted for $4.3 billion in U.S. and Canadian theaters.
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife,""Wonder Woman 1984,""Black Widow," "Morbius" and "In the Heights" have all been delayed or taken off the schedule, along with major spring releases including "No Time to Die" and "Mulan."
Some films have also been postponed because of halted post production, leading to reshuffling of next year's schedule, too. Work on Universal Pictures' "Minions: The Rise of Gru" was halted when the French animation studio Illumination had to close it doors. Universal said Wednesday "Minions" will open in July 2021 instead of July 3 this year. "Sing 2" was pushed from July 2021 to December next year.
Paramount also said Thursday that "A Quiet Place Part II," which had been scheduled to hit theaters in March, will now be released Sept. 4. "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run" will aim for July 31 instead of May 22. And the sci-fi war film "The Tomorrow War," with Chris Pratt, is now unscheduled instead of releasing on Christmas.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More