Lionsgate Shifts Entire Slate, Including “John Wick: Chapter 4”

Even though it wasn't scheduled to open until next summer, Lionsgate has already pushed John Wick: Chapter 4 back a year due to Coronavirus-related production delays. Keanu Reeves will have to kick all the asses in 2022 now. The Saw-connected thriller Spiral (starring Chris Rock) will take its place, having already been pushed from opening later this month.

The studio is also swapping two of its comedies. Originally slated for July, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar – from the creators of Bridesmaids – will have its moment in the sun next summer, where it will take on Space Jam: A New Legacy. Moving up is the The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. The sequel to the so-so action comedy with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson now hits theaters this August.

For the rest of 2020, there's the Hilary Swank thriller Fatale, currently scheduled to open Halloween weekend, and the sci-fi flick Voyagers, starring Tye Sheridan and Lily Rose Depp. The latter will open the day before Thanksgiving, where it will face competition from the already-delayed James Bond adventure No Time to Die and the family comedy Happiest Season.

Everything else won't hit theaters until 2021 (for now), including a big-screen Paw Patrol movie, spy thriller The Asset and sports biopic American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story, among others. But of course as things change with this unprecedented pandemic, don't be surprised if all these dates change, too.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.