It’s been 18 months since the pandemic closed cinemas globally and threw the once predictable film release schedule into chaos.

And even as cinemas reopened the once familiar cadence of releases has yet to resume. That’s largely because studios found during the pandemic that streaming and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) could rival cinemas for distributing films.

In fact, the number of variables in the world of movie distribution is making it difficult even for studio executives to draw any firm conclusions about the titles released so far this year and what if any lessons can be drawn as they plan their future schedules. So while more order has come to theatrical releases, “normal” is yet to be defined.

Multiple strategies
As a result the once ironclad 90-day windows the theater operators previously enjoyed have shrunk to 45 days or less. And even then, some films are going direct to streaming or SVOD or being released at the same time as they enter theaters.

“You will see us continue to use a variety of release strategies” and the 45-day window for theaters will be among them, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish, whose company owns Paramount,  said on CNBC late last week.

The wholesale change to film release schedules is proving challenging for licensees and retailers alike who previously were accustomed to a 4-5-week window before and after a film’s release in theaters for seeding and selling licensed products. Even surprise theatrical hits – remember the scramble for licensed product tied to the original Frozen after its release in late 2013 – gave some time for assembling product collections to satisfy unexpected demand. And then there’s some products that were mothballed for a year or more amid shifting film release dates.

For example, among the first films to be delayed by the pandemic in the U.S. (March 2020) – James Bond: No Time to Die – had its  U.S. release date moved several times before landing on Oct. 8, 2021. And Top Gun: Maverick, which was originally set for release in June 2020, will now launch on May 27, 2022. And despite the release of some high profile films –- Black Widow, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Jungle Cruise  and – U.S. box office revenue was down 73.6% from 2019 at $2 billion through late August, according to Box Office Mojo.

With so many variables, it’s been hard to keep up with the changes in release dates, which seem to be constantly in flux (though perhaps not quite to the extent they were a year ago). In the future, we will add streaming and SVOD films to our calendar – Netflix alone is releasing 42 films in the second half due partly to backlog of production tied to the closing of facilities during the pandemic – but for now, here is how the film release calendar (into cinemas) stands into 2024.