Warner Bros. Sked Shake-Up: ‘Weapons’ Armed For August, Paul Thomas Anderson Moves To Fall, ‘The Bride’ Walking Down Aisle In 2026 & So Much More…

9 hours ago 1

ARTICLE AD

Warner Bros‘ has just made some razor-sharp release date changes ahead of CinemaCon, ones which could potentially keep the Burbank, CA lot more toward the black this year than in the red. In a year when there were four $100M+ auteur driven movies, one of which — Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 recently misfired — Warners Bros distribution led by Jeff Goldstein has taken the pressure off the schedule in that regard, and even placed a potential tentpole into the year, that being Zach Cregger’s highly anticipated genre movie Weapons on Aug 8.

Cregger’s next movie after Barbarian was previously scheduled for MLK weekend 2026 on Jan. 16. What kept Warners from moving the Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich up was that the theatrical release was tied to Imax screens. Can’t give up those auditoriums. In fact, what made all of the release date changes feasible for Warners tonight was that each release date was tied to Imax bookings. As one insider called the release date shifts tonight “we lifted and shifted.”

Weapons will go toe-to-toe with Disney’s female skewing sequel Freakier Friday.

The Weapons move pushes Paul Thomas Anderson‘s priciest movie of his career, the Leonardo DiCaprio action comedy One Battle After Another, from Aug. 8 to Sept. 26 (which is where Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! was). It was out there in the ether that the PTA movie which stars ean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall would move; it just wasn’t clear where. What makes this date special is that Warners will not only have access to Imax hubs, but select theaters that play 70mm and VISTA VISION (that’s what Brady Corbet’s Oscar winning The Brutalist projected in). TBD if the PTA movie gets a fall film festival troika launch. Word is that it’s not always his preference to launch at a fall film festival, but he’s done it before. His 2014 movie Inherent Vice (also a Warners release) premiered at NY Film Festival, while 2012’s The Master world premiered at Venice. PTA’s latest reportedly costs around $140M. His latest will vs. Lionsgate’s Saw XI and Universal’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie.

Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! now on March 6, 2026 puts the genre movie in a month that has been primed for tentpoles, i.e. Legendary/Warner Bros’ Dune Part Two, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, Warner Bros’ The Batman, and Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong. This was the movie that Warners saved after Netflix passed on the project.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s The Cat in the Hat from directors Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja now rolls up one week from March 6, 2026 to Feb. 27, 2026. That’s a week before Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers debuts, which is March 6. Also, the new date for The Cat in Hat givens the family feature an advantage with some promotional opportunities overseas. Voice cast is Bill Hader, Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry and Paula Pell. Now Cat in the Hat will share the marquee with Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream 7.

Meanwhile, David Robert Mitchell’s sci-fi movie Flowervale Street starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor goes from March 13, 2026 to Aug. 14, 2026. The studio believes it’s a commercial movie and has a better date to take advantage of last-minute summer audiences. Flowervale Street stands alone currently as the sole major studio wide entry.

Here’s what the Warner Bros. sked looks like now:

2025:

March 21 – Alto Knights

April 4 – A Minecraft Movie

April 18 – Easter weekend — Sinners

May 16 — Final Destination: Bloodlines

June 27 — Apple Original Films’ F1

July 11 — Superman

Aug. 8 — Weapons

Sept 5 — Conjuring: Last Rites

Sept 26 — One Battle After Another

Oct. 10 — Animal Friends