Just when it was starting to look like there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel for the movie business after months of chaos caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, a recent surge in cases across the United States has seen Hollywood once again put the brakes on their plans to return to business as usual.
Big budget productions like Jurassic World: Dominion and Avatar 2 have resumed operations, but those movies are shooting in England and New Zealand respectively, and it might be a while yet before any Stateside crews get back to work. The vast majority of theaters remain closed, leaving what’s usually the most lucrative time of the year as a barren wasteland, with the domino effect still continuing as countless titles pack up and flee to next year.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is the latest high-profile movie to suffer a delay, with James Wan’s threequel getting pushed all the way back to June 4th, 2021, having originally been scheduled for the second weekend of September. With the initial date being just a couple of months away, the latest installment in The Conjuring Universe would have been pretty close to being locked and good to go, but now Warner Bros. are going to have to sit on it for almost a full year.
This is yet another blow for the theatrical industry, which has been taken to the cleaners throughout the pandemic. The first two entries made over $300 million each at the box office, with the franchise itself close to the $2 billion mark overall, and pulling The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It has removed yet another guaranteed smash hit from the calendar. And at this rate, there’s probably going to be a lot more delays still to come.