Hours after SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood companies reached a tentative deal on Wednesday Sony Pictures announced it was pushing Venom 3 from next summer to November 8 2024.
Studio executives have moved the tentpole from July 12 2024, yet they do so with renewed confidence that they will be able to complete production on the Tom Hardy starrer as the 118-day strike is suspended at just past midnight on Thursday.
Venom 3 is directed by Kelly Marcel and is expected to get back into production before the end of the year, as is Sony’s other production priority It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni’s romance starring Blake Lively and Baldoni.
Around Hollywood, the studios and streamers are gearing up for what is expected to be a calamitous rush back to production accompanied by scores of talent promoting film and TV on talk shows, in interviews with press, and on red carpets.
Over at Warner Bros, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 and Clint Eastwood’s Juror No. 2, both of which had a limited number of days remaining on their shooting schedules, are expected to resume production as soon as the filmmakers and cast can make it back to set.
Paramount will be prioritising a return to production on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 in Malta, as well as Tom Cruise tentpole Mission: Impossible 8.
It remained unclear when Marvel/Disney’s Deadpool 3 with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will resume production. The tentpole is roughly halfway done but will have to put its skates on to remain on the May 3 release date which officially launches the 2024 summer box office season.
At Lionsgate it is understood Aziz Ansari’s action comedy Good Fortune starring Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen and Ansari will resume production in early 2024. The studio is not an Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers member but executives would have faced a reluctance by some actors to return to work out of solidarity with those on the picket lines.
Similarly Sunflower, the horror film that marks the feature directing debut of Lovecraft Country and Underground creator Misha Green and stars Jurnee Smollett and Isabel May, is expected to commence soon.
Cast on Lionsgate’s November 17 release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, have been doing press under an interim agreement.
Screen understands Disney tried to get Chris Pine on the red carpet of Wednesday’s Hollywood premiere of the animated musical Wish coming out on November 22, however there was not enough time. Ariana DeBose is expected to attend the UK premiere on November 20.
Timothée Chalamet, who stars in Warner Bros’ December 15 release Wonka, will be on Saturday Night Live this weekend and Jason Mamoa will be the guest host the following week in the run-up to the release of DC’s Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom on December 22.
It is understood both appearances were scheduled by the stars’ representatives. They would not have been allowed to talk about the upcoming projects under an ongoing strike, however now all that has changed.
Warner Bros/Amblin’s The Color Purple premieres on December 25 and is expected to become a glitzy affair with cast members allowed to attend and promote. It stars Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, and Colman Domingo, among others.
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