One of the very minor benefits to come from the raft of pandemic-related release date delays is that there’s a ton of movies locked, in the can and ready to go, all they need to do is actually hit theaters. As a result, footage and entire preview screenings can be held without having to showcase an unfinished product.
The first reactions to Ghostbusters: Afterlife started rolling in yesterday, and while the long-awaited sequel isn’t arriving until November, it was initially scheduled to hit theaters in July of last year. CinemaCon also played host to the maiden look at footage from Sylvester Stallone’s gritty superhero effort Samaritan, which was pulled from the schedule a couple of months back and recently handed an August 26th, 2022 bow.
After spending seven months on hiatus due to COVID-19, production wrapped late last year, and by the time audiences have the chance to see Samaritan more than 30 months will have passed since director Julius Avery first called action, so let’s hope it ends up being worth the wait.
The footage shows Stallone’s Stanley Kominski picking up trash as part of his day job, with the sanitation worker’s superpowered alter ego having been presumed dead 30 years previously. He argues with Javon Walton’s Sam Cleary about coming out of retirement, before a few action shots tease the set pieces revolving around the title hero’s enhanced strength and durability.
Superhero movies are ten a penny these days, but very rarely do they involve a guy in his 70s in the lead role, with Stallone’s unique brand of grizzled badassery setting Samaritan up as a potentially unique spin on a familiar concept.