J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi fantasy movie The Great Beyond starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega won’t be opening on Nov. 13, rather it’s moving to Oct. 1, 2027, setting off a chain reaction for Warner Bros and sending Matt Reeves’ highly anticipated The Batman Part II, which was on that date, to Feb. 18, 2028.
At the same time, Warners is doing a half do-si-do with Sam Esmail’s Panic Carefully and New Line horror sequel Revenge of La Llorona swapping dates. Panic Carefully was on Feb. 26, 2027 and now goes to April 9, 2027 in Imax, while Revenge of La Llorona was dated for April 9 next year and moves up to Feb. 26.
All of these release changes are going down as the pending Paramount acquisition of the 103-year old Warner Bros remains held up by myriad antitrust lawsuits including the attorney general of California, New York and ten other states. Previously, it was expected that the Paramount-Warner Bros’ merger would be completed by the fall of 2026.
As far as Warner Bros going up against its potential parent company on the release sked, Paramount already had movies dated on Feb. 26 and April 9 next year.
A hint that The Great Beyond was moving off its November release date came when Amazon MGM Studios recently moved their action movie How to Rob a Bank from Labor Day weekend to Nov. 13. The other wide entry remaining on that date is Paramount’s Ti West directed, Johnny Depp starring Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol.
We understand that there was a test screening of The Great Beyond at the Regal Irvine with Warners deciding that they wanted 70MM Imax prints of the pic. Abrams has been busy editing and was expected to finish post in September. Now, the filmmaker behind Star Wars: Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has more time to complete his original Bad Robot opus which he wrote. The pic was teased at April’s CinemaCon. The four-quadrant, all audience movie lands in a rich early October launchpad which was home to such Warner hits as Gravity, Joker, A Star Is Born, Dune, Argo, and The Departed. The Great Beyond is Abrams’ first original movie in over a decade and also stars Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever and Samuel L. Jackson. The Great Beyond currently remains the only major studio wide theatrical release on Oct. 1.
Reeves meanwhile is announcing on social this morning The Batman II release date change news. The new date for The Batman Part II puts it on the 4-day Presidents Day holiday weekend where such superhero movies as Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Captain America: Brave New World have opened. The Batman Part II‘s start of production was delayed five months, and the new date allows Reeves additional time in post-production. The Batman Part II will still have Imax screens on its new date. The cast has Robert Pattinson, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell returning respectively as Batman, Alfred and Penguin with new additions Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham, and Sebastian Koch. Already occupying Presidents Day weekend 2028 is an untitled Disney movie and Sony’s original action sci-fi feature, Grandgear from Godzilla Minus One filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki.
Panic Carefully, which was also written by Mr. Robot creator Email, has him reteaming with his Homecoming series and Leave the World behind star, Oscar winner Julia Roberts. Eddie Redmayne, Brian Tyree Henry, Ben Chaplin, Aidan Gillen, Joe Alwyn, Naledi Murray and Elizabeth Olsen also star in the movie. Panic Carefully on its new April 9, 2027 date goes up against Paramount Primal’s R-rated comedy Boys for Life which was just dated yesterday.
Revenge of La Llorona on its new weekend goes up against Paramount’s K-Pop: The Debut and Sony’s family drama, Live Like That. The next chapter of La Llorona is directed by Santiago Menghini off a screenplay by Sean Tretta. Pic stars Raymond Cruz, Monica Raymund, Martín Fajardo, Acston Luca Porto, Avie Porto, Edy Ganem, and Jay Hernandez. In this new installment, the vengeful spirit from the 2019 horror movie, The Curse of La Llorona, returns. A fractured family must confront their past and join forces with their estranged curandero grandfather to battle ancient evils—before the Weeping Woman claims their children forever.