Movie release paused for some while others Marvel

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has sent the Marvel world into a spin, but a sizeable chunk of its Australian fandom might miss out on its cinema release.

Canadian actor Simu Liu. Picture: AFP

When a blockbuster falls from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the excitement is palpable. The buzz around the forthcoming Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has sent the Marvel world into a spin, but this time a sizeable chunk of its Australian fandom might miss out.

With more than half of Australian cinemas in lockdown, industry leaders are being forced to stagger the release of films across states to ensure audiences have the chance to watch them on the big screen.

Awkwafina. Picture: AFP

Although Shang-Chi was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, the city’s residents will miss the film’s grand opening on September 2 – Marvel’s first exclusive theatrical ­release in more than two years. ­Instead the film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu alongside Awkwafina, will open in NSW, Victoria and the ACT on September 16.

Shang-Chi’s staggered release is likely to be part of a broader trend in which film fansin locked-down states and territories wait longer to see some of the year’s biggest Hollywood blockbusters.

Because of Covid, cinemas in Australia’s biggest markets, NSW and Victoria, are likely to remain closed as a host of delayed blockbusters, including Daniel Craig’s hotly anticipated Bond film No Time To Die, Dune and Venom: Let There Be Carnage are released in coming weeks and months.

Under a staggered release model, film fans in Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia would potentially see 2021’s biggest blockbusters in cinemas before Sydney and Melbourne filmgoers do.

Timothee Chalemet and Rebecca Ferguson in Dune.

Stephen Basil-Jones, executive vice-president of Sony Pictures Australia, says movie fans in NSW, Victoria and the ACT “won’t miss out, but there may be a little delay’’. Other films, says Basil-Jones, “may indeed be going to a streaming platform sooner rather than later’’.

While the nationwide release date for No Time To Die is September 30, a spokeswoman said the film’s marketers were “assessing the situation, which is ­evolving’’.

Industry experts said the scheduling of blockbusters in partially locked down Australia would be influenced by factors ­including global cinema and streaming release dates, licensing obligations and financial marketing risks.

Daniel Craig in No Time to Die.

Lori Flekser, executive director of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, the peak body for Hollywood studios ­including Disney and Paramount, said the studios’ preference was for blockbusters to be seen in cinemas, “on a big screen with sophisticated technology …. that can’t be replicated in the home’’.

However, she cautioned: “These decisions are not based on Australia’s situation alone, as the Delta variant is impacting every single theatrical market’’.