If you’ve experienced déjà vu in the last few days, you aren’t alone. Summer 2021 feels a little bit like spring 2020 when, with cases of covid-19 rising, one movie was delayed, then another, then another, then everything. This week saw the first official delay in response to the delta variant of covid-19 when the opening date of Venom: Let There Be Carnage was shifted three weeks. Optimisticaly, we hope that’s it. But after box office returns on Warner Bros. blockbuster The Suicide Squad failed to meet expectations, we’re starting to get worried that Venom was only the first domino.
So what you have here are 10 movies that are supposed to be released over the next five months—but hypothetically could be delayed again if theaters close or are forced to dial back capacity. Of note though: movies with viable streaming options (like Dune, Malignant, and The Matrix 4) or locked-in releases in the near future (like Candyman and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) were not counted. We’re pretty sure we’re going to see those. What follows are the ones that seem more flexible for various reasons.
