How The SAG-AFTRA Strike Could Upend This Year’s Movie Release Schedule & Box Office

deadline.com:

On the edge of what is bound to be the domestic box office’s third $200M+ weekend thanks to Barbie and Oppenheimer, the motion picture industry’s fret is whether the great post-pandemic moviegoing rebound is about to screech to a halt due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and actors prohibited from promoting.

Barbie and Oppenheimer are expected to gross a combined $150M this weekend, with many moviegoers planning double features. All of this momentum has been built on the backs of each pic’s casts’ globe-trotting press tours.

Currently, the 2023 domestic box office through July 16 at $5 billion is surging 13% ahead of last year which ended at $7.4 billion.

Is a great thing about to go very wrong? Studios’ marketing and distribution brass remain vigilant as to whether they’ll start moving titles, assessing the calendar weekly.