After the media battle of the 2020s, David Ellison came out on top, outbidding Netflix and also making the proper deals with the government to create his new Skydance Corporation. The media giant now holds the keys to a wide variety of TV networks, studios, and valuable IPs, such as DC, Harry Potter, Transformers, and many more. With a mandate to release 30 movies in theaters over the first two years, one concern for Ellison is not self-cannibalizing the company with competing release dates. With Warner Bros. and Paramount having already set many release dates for 2027, there's one franchise that may need to be delayed.
The 2027 schedule has a few spots where Warner Bros. and Paramount movies open on the same date or within one weekend of each other. The most realistic shake-up right now?
Skydance delaying A Quiet Place Part III, opening July 30, 2027, clearing the runway for Jack Black and A Minecraft Movie Squared (July 23, 2027).
The reason being, A Minecraft Movie was a massive hit in 2025, earning nearly $1 billion worldwide, so there's close to a 0% chance that Squared would shift at all, especially considering how lucrative the release window has become since Barbie and Oppenheimer in 2023. This makes, now, the same studio releasing another big property one week later a bit of a head-scratcher.
They'll both be played on premium large-format (PLF) screens, too, so bumping Part III a week, or even pushing it more into spooky season, could make a lot of sense.
Then again, Squared is set to release in IMAX, though the same hasn't been said for Part III. That could be one reason the dates actually stick.
There's also the counter-programming argument, since the two movies are targeting different audiences. However, the A Quiet Place franchise has never been R-rated horror, and it's very commercial given its track record. The first Quiet Place movie earned over $340.9 million worldwide.
So the audience crossover could be greater than, for instance, a typical lower-budget, R-rated horror flick.
It's important to note that this would actually be Part III's second delay. The movie was originally set for July 9, 2027, before Paramount pushed it back to July 30, to (wisely) avoid clashing with Warner Bros.' Man of Tomorrow. Funny enough, this was just to avoid the competition, before both studios were merged.
If Skydance does move it again, October 22 and October 29, 2027, both look like logical landing spots. Each still falls just before Halloween, and no studio currently has a big release on either date.
Due to the franchise's popularity, this seems like a back-to-back weekend release window that may need to be adjusted by Ellison and co., but there are actually several more instances of Skydance competing with itself next year.
How Skydance Will Manage its 2027 Slate
Now under one omnipotent umbrella, there is a clear set of 2027 movies that Ellison and Skydance need to be big hits.
On the Warner Bros. side, that's Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, Man of Tomorrow, A Minecraft Movie Squared, and The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The latter will be squaring off against Disney's Avengers: Secret Wars.
Paramount's heavy hitters are Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the aforementioned third A Quiet Place film, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2.
Now under one roof, those release dates are where things get tricky. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova open just one weekend apart in March, and four of the seven land in a five-week span between July 9 and August 13. That's a lot to work through, and potentially rearrangements just a few months away from that calendar year's beginning.
That doesn't mean every overlap has to go, though. Ellison may still just have some movies open against each other, since they won't compete for the same audience.
In fact, there are already three 2027 dates on which Warner Bros. and Paramount both have movies opening on the same day, but none of them seem to be in true box office fights. In every case. they're all counter-programming across totally different genres and audiences.
On February 26, WB's The Revenge of La Llorona targets supernatural horror fans, while Paramount's K-Pop: The Debut is pitched to youth, family, and music audiences.
On May 21, WB's animated family musical Bad Fairies lives in a completely different world than Paranormal Activity 8, Paramount's latest found-footage horror entry. And on August 13, Tim Miller's Shiver, a sci-fi survivor film from WB, goes up against Paramount's animated superhero sequel, Mutant Mayhem 2, which is clearly built for all ages, kids especially.
We'll eventually see how aggressive Skydance gets about removing head-to-head matchups, or if they don't mind the friendly fire, as long as they're getting theatrical releases.
