Dave Bautista's Family Comedy 'My Spy' Pushed Back To 2020

This weekend, you can see Dave Bautista having a blast with Kumail Nanjiani in the action comedy Stuber. And originally, there was going to be even more laughs with Dave Bautista in the family comedy My Spy, slated for released towards the end of August. But now STX Entertainment has decided to push the movie back to a release in 2020, but their reasoning apparently doesn't have anything to do with the film's quality. 

The Wrap has word on My Spy being delayed from its original August 23, 2019 opening. The movie directed by Peter Segal (50 First Dates, Get Smart) follows Dave Bautista as a hardened CIA operative who finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl (Chloe Coleman) after being sent undercover to spy on her family. So why is the movie being delayed?

The good news is that studio insiders say that STX Entertainment loves the movie, and they're very confident in it. It seems the reasoning might be that the movie is being released in too close of a proximity to Stuber. Considering the comedic nature of both movies, the studio likely sees this as possibly saturating the market with Dave Bautista movies that could be seen as being very similar. Sure, one is an R-rated comedy for adults while the other is a family friendly comedy, but some general audiences will see Dave Bautista and could assume it's the same movie.

Let's not forget that STX Entertainment also has Playmobil: The Movie coming out in August. Maybe there was too much overlap with family entertainment and one of them needed to get pushed. With the brand recognition, it would stand to reason that Playmobil has a chance at being more successful this year, but we haven't heard much about the movie yet, and it's slated for release on August 30, 2019 as far as we know.

Another challenge could be be awareness for My Spy isn't as good as the studio wanted it to be by this point, so they're hoping it can find a better audience in a different release window. Even though the movie still has over a month to raise that awareness, it still has to contend with movies like Dora and the Lost City of Gold, The Angry Birds Movie 2, and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Since this summer has been full of box office disappointment, the studio likely doesn't want to risk getting lost in the shuffle.

There's a chance that STX Entertainment could be holding back the movie because of rumors that the studio is looking to merge, raise capital or find a buyer following its recent run of box office disappointments, which include UglyDolls, Best of Enemies and Poms. Maybe they're hoping to get a buyer before their next movie comes out and that might change the distribution game a bit for them. For STX's part, here's what they had to say about those rumors:

"We are fortunate to have the resources, strategic vision and support of our Board and financial partners as we raise additional capital to finance potential acquisitions and other opportunities to significantly expand the company's capabilities. It's unfortunate that those who are unaware of our actual plans would be trying so hard to dismiss them."

At this time, a new release date hasn't been set for My Spy, but the studio will be holding onto the movie until 2020. Our best guess is that it will come out sometime earlier in the year, likely sometime between January and March. Stay tuned.