WB Delays Release Dates For 'The Matrix 4', 'Godzilla Vs. Kong', 'Tom & Jerry' And More

Warner Bros. decided to wait until the end of the week to wreak havoc on the industry's release calendar, delaying Christopher Nolan's Tenet by two weeks and bumping Wonder Woman 1984 back to October. But the studio wasn't done yet – later on Friday evening, they announced release date changes for The Matrix 4, Godzilla vs. Kong, Tom & Jerry, a New Line horror movie, and Robert Zemeckis's The Witches. Find out the new dates below.

Let's take these one by one, in order of what the initial release was supposed to be. Robert Zemeckis's adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches, which was originally slated to arrive on October 9, 2020, has been removed from the studio's release calendar entirely. Godzilla vs. Kong, which was supposed to arrive on November 20, 2020, has been bumped back to May 21, 2021. The studio's new take on Tom & Jerry, which was scheduled to be a big holiday player on December 23, 2020, will now arrive on March 5, 2021. Lana Wachowski's The Matrix 4 initially planned to jack audiences back in on May 21, 2021, but it has now been moved back by almost an entire year – it will hit theaters on April 1, 2022. And finally, an untitled New Line horror movie will now be released on June 4, 2021. Scott Mendelson over at Forbes suggests that this film could be James Wan's Malignant, which makes the most sense of any guess I've heard so far.

While the coronavirus pandemic is very much still an ongoing danger, today marked the first day Hollywood could officially resume filming, and several of the major guilds released new production protocols to keep casts and crews safe. The pandemic's effect on the industry has been enormous, to say the least, and 2021 is going to be an awfully crowded year at the box office as huge movies continue to shift back to that calendar year to give them the best chance of making the most money at the box office. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Tenet moved back again as its new July 31 release date approaches, but we'll see how confident WB is feeling about peoples' willingness to return to theaters. Currently, cases are spiking in several areas of the country, and many outlets are predicting a second wave of the virus may arrive in the fall. Stay safe out there, everyone.