You read that title correctly. Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have finally announced a date for Andy (It: Chapters One and Two) Muschietti’s The Flash movie, scheduling it for the wide open date of July 1, 2022. Actor Ezra Miller apparently is still on board to play Barry Allen, after first being introduced as the character in Zack Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice over three years ago.
On top of that, Warner Bros. has picked a date for Lana Wachowski‘s return to the world of The Matrix for a yet-untitled fourth movie – we’ll just keep calling it The Matrix 4, for now – with plans to release that on May 21, 2021. Currently, that’s also the date that Liongate had on hold for John Wick: Chapter 4. That’s right. Keanu Reeves aka “The Comeback Keanu” may have two wide releases on the same day, unless something changes.
That live-action Akira movie that’s been in all phases of development hell for over a decade? The one that filmmaker Taika Waititi was in the process of making before the production was shut down and he moved onto other things? That seems even deader than usual, as Warner Bros. finally pulled it off its May 21, 2021 release date. This might just be to give Waititi, who is both writing and directing the Akira adaptation, to finish Thor: Love and Thunder for Marvel Studios first.
Lastly, New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat movie, produced by James Wan and Todd Garner has been moved up two months to come out on January 15, 2021 vs. March 5, 2021. Directed by Simon McQuoid, that video game movie reboot is already well into production with a cast that includes Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, and many more.
Just the other day I found myself wondering about Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s upcoming release dates. I’ve seen the two studios announce DC-related projects and dates in the past with many of them falling through as plans were changed. Maybe there’s some hope that the studio has finally found the proper rhythm to announce projects, set dates and keep them with the recent announcements.
For those keeping track, Warner Bros. has two DC movies coming out in 2020: Birds of Prey (and its ridiculously long title) on February 7, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5. 2021 has Robert Pattinson‘s The Batman set for June 25, James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad on August 6 and then the long-awaited turn of Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam on Dec. 22, 2021.
James Wan recently announced that his Aquaman sequel will hit on December 16, 2022, and the announcement of The Flash earlier in the year means that WB/DC may finally be able to release two or even three movies a year as it tries to catch up to Marvel Studios.
Now, we just have to wait and see if and when that Green Lantern Corps movie, being produced by Geoff Johns, will be next…