EXCLUSIVE: Despite all the champagne popping at Warner Bros and Universal over the bananas box office success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, distribution executives continue to sweat over a possible lengthy SAG-AFTRA strike that is already blowing up the fall release calendar.
We told you first last week this was going to happen. All major motion picture studios are assessing release-date changes the longer SAG-AFTRA strike goes on.
Many want their stars to promote these films. Sources tell me that studio executives are hoping to huddle with the National Association of Theatre Owners in an effort to get the word out to SAG-AFTRA how a lengthy strike could really do damage, not just to the motion picture business but also to exhibition itself after cinemas ate dirt during Covid.
The news comes as No. 1 theater chain AMC is running out of cash; cinemas can’t go through this again. We told you that Oscar-bait adult-demo titles that squarely hinge on actors’ promotions are the first titles to move off the calendar, which we saw immediately with MGM’s Challengers, starring Zendaya and directed by Luca Guadagnino, last week heading from September 15 to the last weekend of April (and out of its Venice opening-night premiere).
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