Dont Tell NetflixDont Tell Netflix

By George Robbins

These past months since the pandemic began have made things a lot more difficult for plenty of people all over the place and in many industries across the globe. Among the industries that have suffered the hardest following the beginning of the pandemic is the film industry which has been trying to figure out exactly what to do for months now. Primarily they are having the worst time imaginable trying to figure out their upcoming release windows because they have to come up with something that would allow them to get people in theater seats. Most studios still have their primary way of bringing in revenue set to being theatrical releases for their movies and they have no reason to release in the current market.

Theaters need business, but there is no guarantee after recent events that they will be able to bring people in even if they have more films to show. It is because of this that studios have essentially pushed all of their blockbuster films into next year hoping a vaccine will be made by then to quell the pandemic. Everyone knows that this is pretty much the only guaranteed way of getting people to steadily go back to theaters and experience any kind of new movies that are out. In the meantime, studios are only really left with the option to either release their films straight to VOD or delay their films for pretty much up to a year or more. This is terrible for everyone, but the studios that were just about to release their films when the pandemic hit are feeling it just that little bit more in the end.

Included in the movies that were meant to release when the pandemic first struck is the next entry in the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, ‘F9.’ This upcoming entry was originally meant to release back in May, which would have normally been the best time frame for a blockbuster film to release in theaters. Unfortunately, like all movies set to release at that time, the film was delayed to late this year and as we can see, it is already late this year and the movie still hasn’t released. The reason for this is because, just like every other movie out there, this one was yet again delayed to accommodate for the current social climate and the state of theaters. There are plenty of reasons for why movies are being delayed at this point, but the most obvious has to relate to theaters.

Theaters, as everyone well knows have been losing money hand-over-fist because people are just far too worried to even try and go out to theaters, so theaters have no revenue flowing through their doors. Most studios are hoping this will be remedied with time and that they will be able to release their films like nothing happened when they reach their new release windows for their films. On that list is ‘F9’ which was set for its new release date which will now be one year after when it was originally set for release in May of 2021. With the delay, one would think that the movie would actually already be set up to be released on the big screen and it turns out this was not the case. The upcoming entry to the franchise has just had its audio mix finished for when it releases in theaters and thus perhaps its largest hurdle has been crossed before release.

This upcoming entry to the now beloved action franchise is expected to be an incredible work that features stunts and set pieces that can one up its predecessors. Every movie in that franchise just tries harder and harder to outdo the previous film so it is crazy to think about what we will end up seeing when this movie does finally come out. There are only going to be two more entries in the mainline series after this movie releases, so it is hard to imagine just how much they will be able to change things in the upcoming films. Everything they do becomes harder to top, but with Justin Lin directing, people are hopeful for the future of these films. They believe that this will be a return to form that fans have been hoping for ever since Lin left after the sixth film.