No Way Home to Steamroll Matrix Resurrections & Others Christmas Weekend

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. But pandemic or not, it seems ambitious to have seven new movies scheduled to open nationwide in the wake of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

That’s right, seven new films — “The Matrix Resurrections” (Warner Bros.), “Sing 2” (Universal), “The King’s Man” (Disney and 20th Century), “The Tender Bar” (Amazon Studios), “A Journal for Jordan” (Sony) and “Licorice Pizza” (MGM) — will make their way to North American theaters around Christmas Day and attempt to lure audiences away from the box office behemoth that is “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Cue the voice on the other end of Liam Neeson’s ominous phone call in “Taken”: “Good luck.”

In “non-plague” times, it wouldn’t be unusual to slate several new films during the holiday season; the stretch between Christmas and New Year’s is typically the most lucrative time for moviegoing. But outside of comic book adaptations, hardly any pandemic releases have managed to sell a significant number of tickets, and outsized competition for screens certainly won’t help.

One thing is certain: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” isn’t slowing down. Overblown concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19 could result in somewhat of a pileup for other new movies, but Sony’s comic book epic should again emerge unscathed. Most of the world in general probably will also. Enjoy your holidays and go to the movies.

via Variety