As film studios and executives display an inability to work out a fair deal with striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA workers, audiences are getting their first taste of the release date delays.
This week, it was announced that MGM has pulled Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya-starring tennis love triangle film Challengers from the Venice Film Festival, as well as pushed back its release date from September 15, 2023 to April 26, 2024. Shortly after, A24 pulled Julio Torres’ debut film Problemista, starring Torres and Tilda Swinton, just as it was about to go into limited release on August 4, 2023 before an expansion on the 25th, with no new date set.
The prospect of films being temporarily shelved is one that has been looming since the beginning of the strikes, as various high-profile projects have halted production. We had yet to see how the situation would impact soon-to-release, already completed projects, but with SAG-AFTRA strike rules forbidding stars to promote struck films—which includes no social media posts, talk shows, interviews, or red carpet events—it seemed only a matter of time before the conflict of publicity sent its own shockwaves through upcoming releases.
It’s only expected that this would impact smaller titles that heavily rely on promotion from their stars. When you have an actress like Zendaya unable to promote the film she leads to her millions of social media followers, there’s going to be resistance from the companies behind the movie in question. It’s indicative of the disparity between the influence that actors wield over the release of their films, and how much their voices are factored into the studio’s release plans, versus how much studios are willing to invest in their talent by providing fair wages. Actors clearly hold a lot of leverage when their silence is the catalyst for entire release schedules being completely reorganized. Though Challengers and Problemista may be the most prominent titles to face setbacks so far, other productions like Lionsgate’s White Bird and Dirty Dancing sequel, have also seen release date changes.
This news follows the release of a SAG-AFTRA strike memo which revealed just how deeply the avarice of the AMPTP runs, their heels firmly dug into prioritizing the supposed potential of AI and ensuring the pockets of executives and shareholders are filled, instead of ensuring equitable wages and adequate working conditions for writers, actors and other below-the-line Hollywood laborers. With studios refusing to return to the table for negotiations, this may just be the start of a deluge of delays at the expense of workers and audience members.