MORBIUS & GHOSTBUSTERS Sequel Secure Summer 2020 Release Dates; VENOM 2 Likely For October 2020
Sony Pictures has officially set release dates for a pair of their biggest 2020 releases, the Jared Leto-fronted Spider-Man spinoff, Morbius, and their Jason Reitman-helmed Ghostbusters sequel.
Following Warner Bros.' big Christopher Nolan news last night, Sony Pictures officially dated a pair of their biggest 2020 releases and rearranged a number of other titles on their upcoming slate.
Morbius, their upcoming Spider-Man spinoff, will open in theaters worldwide on July 31, 2020. Daniel Espinosa is directing with a script from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Academy Award-winner Jared Leto (Blade Runner 2049) will star as the titular vampire while Adria Arjona (Triple Frontier) will play Martine Bancroft and Matt Smith (Star Wars: Episode IX) was recently cast in an undisclosed role.
The surprise Ghostbusters sequel, which has 4x Academy Award-nominee Jason Reitman (Tully) directing, will open a little earlier on July 10, 2020. No cast or plot details have been revealed, but it'll be a direct continuation of Ghostbusters 2 and will follow a younger generation of ghost-busting heroes. Reitman co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan (Poltergeist) and production will begin this summer.
The July 10th date had previously been reserved for an Untitled Marvel/Sony film - now revealed to be Morbius - but it seems they wisely decided to push it back in order to take advantage of the relatively dry August box office, a month that proved to be extremely lucrative to another Leto-starrer, Suicide Squad, and also played a key part in the success of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
As for Tom Hardy's Venom sequel, there's no official release date set just yet, but Deadline believes the October 2, 2020 date Sony had previously reserved for a Marvel film has indeed been booked for the eagerly awaited follow-up. The first film grossed over $885.8 million worldwide ($213.5M domestic; $642.2M foreign) on a modest $100 million production budget, so it's understandable the studio wants to once again take advantage of that fall release window.
Sony also shifted a few 2019 release dates. Greyhound has been pushed back fourteen months and will now open on May 8, 2020. Tom Hanks' A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood has been pushed back a month to November 22, 2019 and Screen Gems' Black and Blue will open on September 20, 2019.