Halloween Kills–The next delayed theatrical release gets a teaser

We all know what that jack-o-lantern feels like. We learned this past week the latest installment in the original slasher movie series is ready to go. But the sequel and second part of the most recent Halloween trilogy, Halloween Kills, is being delayed a year until October 2021, so the studio released a teaser (below) as a sort of consolation prize. The excuse for the delay is that the filmmakers don’t want audiences to have a “compromised theatrical experience.” So how about showing it through all the available streaming channels this Halloween? Is holding back a movie that is ready for release because of the COVID-19 pandemic really the best financial move they can come up with? It can’t be. With not just the United States but a fair chunk of the movie studios’ international market at home, it’s inconceivable that the studios aren’t working out deals to get new movies in front of home audiences now, audiences who are starving for new movie content.

Just look at the success from a viewership standpoint of what is going on at Netflix, and other streaming services like Vudu, as they stand ready to be the middle man between the studios, the distributors, and the consumers. And a great benefit of a series like Halloween is audiences would probably return to the theater every Halloween to see a movie from the franchise, even if they flipped the paradigm and showed the movie at home first. They can’t know unless they try.

Originally scheduled for an October 16, 2020, release, this next installment is the direct sequel to 2018’s Halloween, a good third or fourth or fifth effort to reboot the series, which we reviewed here at borg. The delay for Halloween Kills necessitates the delay to October 2022 for the 13th and “final” film in the series, Halloween Ends. The odds this will really be the last Halloween? Probably something like 3,720 to one, but it’s probably Jamie Lee Curtis’s last turn at Laurie Strode. Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, Charles Cyphers, and Nick Castle as Michael Myers will return, joined by Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Longstreet.

Sure, theaters are stuck–but they have the same struggles nearly every business has. But if they make wise decisions today–restructure debt, partner with other distribution channels, come up with alternate uses and solutions for their facilities and employees–they should be able to survive and be back when the pandemic has run its course. If they aren’t, someone else will certainly step in and continue in their steps.

It seems likely we’ll get a bigger and better trailer at Halloween, but for now here is the brief teaser for Halloween Kills: