Universal has shifted the R-rated dog comedy Strays from June to August, where it has significantly less competition regarding big blockbusters.
The summer blockbuster season is looking to be a wee bit busy. June and July, in particular, are packed with movie after movie with massive budgets and potentially massive takes at the box office. It has come to the point that movies must do well the first weekend they are released, or they will fall by the wayside no matter how good word of mouth is because something else will come along and take everyone’s attention.
It’s already happened once this year with the fantastically underrated Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves getting buried at the box office by The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Universal seems to know that there is a time and place to release certain films, and this June and on the same day as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, is probably not the time to drop an R-rated comedy.
So it isn’t that surprising that, according to Deadline, Universal has made the decision to delay Strays from June 9th to August 18th.
Deadline cites that it isn’t just the fact that the schedule is packed and that R-rated comedies actually tend to do pretty well in August as well, but also the ongoing writer’s strike.
If you think about it, who will see marketing for an R-rated comedy? People watching Late Night shows, and none of those are running right now. Without that boost in marketing, there is an even greater chance that the movie gets buried under massive films like Transformers, The Flash, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which don’t have to rely on Late Night spots to drum up hype. What happens if mid-July rolls around and the strike is still going?
Well, maybe Universal delays Strays again, but R-rated comedies don’t have a place in the fall and into the awards season, not really, so they might be better off hoping for a good social media campaign and crossing their fingers.
Support the WGA, support writers, and don’t cross the picket line.
