There's always the suspicious whiff of problems when movies shift release dates, though in recent times, it's been due to pandemic issues more than anything else. Yet Dwayne Johnson's latest films, animated family adventure DC League Of Super-Pets and the big-scale Black Adam have seemed right on track. Now, though, the star has hit social media to announce they're moving to later in 2022.
Johnson (you can find his Instagram post below) offered no reason for the change, but we now know that Warner Bros. is making changes to its release plan, bumping The Flash and James Wan's Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom down the schedule because of Covid delays.
Once scheduled for 4 November, the Andy Muschietti-directed The Flash is off to 23 June, 2023. The Aquaman sequel, meanwhile, will apparently be ready earlier than that one, jumping from 16 December this year to 17 March in 2023.
Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is benefitting from all this, brought forward from a scheduled 2 June release in 2023 to 12 December this year.
Super-Pets, of course, finds Johnson, Kevin Hart, John Krasinski and more lending their voices to the story of Superman's best canine pal Krypto, who must work together with a group of shelter animals granted unusual powers to save the Justice League. The movie takes over Black Adam's original 29 July date.
Black Adam, meanwhile, sees The Rock playing an anti-hero from the Shazam comics stories, a powerful warrior whose idea of justice doesn't always line up with those around him. That film will now move to 21 October, which as Johnson says in his video will let it play through Halloween and the holidays. With The Flash out of that zone, it has a clearer shot.
In non-superhero news, Chocolate Factory prequel pic Wonka, starring Timothee Chalamet, is delayed from March 2023 to 15 December of that year, while giant shark sequel Meg 2: The Trench scores a 4 August 2023 berth.