By John H. Foote

Hollywood took a major hit yesterday with the cancellation of three major films, one of then an Oscar front runner directed by an industry giant.

Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated remake of the Oscar winning film and Broadway smash West Side Story has been postponed an entire year, pushed back to 2021. The musical was expected to be a front runner at the Academy Awards this season, the postponement opening up an already bizarre year.

Two superhero blockbusters have also been bumped to next year, the most shocking being the highly anticipated Wonder Woman 1984, with Gal Gadot returning as the superhuman hero. The first film drew huge box office around the globe and very positive reviews for Gadot and director Patti Jenkins, who also helmed this sequel. The third cancellation was Black Widow, the stand-alone film for Scarlett Johansson’s hero, killed off in the Avengers: Endgame (2019). Eagerly awaited, the latter two films will open summer of next year, we hope.

Given the poor stability of movie theatres and the question of whether or not audiences will even go to the cinemas is how these decisions were justified. The question now comes, who is next? How many more? And are movies theatres finally finished?

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