By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Paramount Pictures on Wednesday postponed the release of "Top Gun: Maverick," sending another of the fall's top movies out of 2021 due to the rise in coronavirus cases and the delta variant.
Instead of opening Nov. 19, the "Top Gun" sequel, starring Tom Cruise, will instead debut Memorial Day weekend next year, on May 27. Additionally, "Mission: Impossible 7" will be delayed from May 27 to Sept. 30 next year.
The postponement is the latest setback for Hollywood's once-hopeful fall movie season. The delta-driven surge has upended the industry's plans for some return to normality at multiplexes. The flight of "Top Gun: Maverick" follows a similar delay for Paramount's "Clifford the Big Red Dog." Paramount also on Wednesday pushed "Jackass Forever" from Oct. 22 to Feb. 4.
While some studios have hedged their bets with big releases by simultaneously streaming them on release, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures have tried to stay the course of a more traditional theatrical release. Sony earlier delayed "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" from September to Oct. 15 due to the rise in cases. Following Paramount's announcement, Sony on Wednesday moved "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" from Nov. 11 to Nov. 19.
But several prominent big-budget releases haven't vacated the fall. Most notably, MGM and United Artists' James Bond movie "No Time to Die" remains slated for release in North America on Oct. 8.
Until recently, Paramount was gearing up to release "Maverick." The studio last month teased the film's first 13 minutes at CinemaCon, the annual exhibitor convention.
Paramount hasn't kept all of its films. It has sold off some release, like "The Tomorrow War," with Chris Pratt, to streamers. "Infinite," a poorly reviewed sci-fi thriller with Mark Wahlberg, debuted directly on Paramount+. But films like "Top Gun: Maverick" would in normal times hope to approach as much as $1 billion in worldwide box office.
Universal's "F9" has grossed more than any other movie during the pandemic, with more than $700 million in ticket sales. But most of its receipts came before the delta variant surge. Paramount's "A Quiet Place Part II," one of the first tentpoles to wade into theaters earlier this year, took in close to $300 million worldwide.
Google is blasted by UK watchdog for what it calls anti-competitive behavior through digital ads
Google was slammed Friday by U.K. regulators who say it's taking advantage of its dominance in digital advertising to thwart competition in Britain, ratcheting up pressure that the tech giant is facing on both sides of the Atlantic over its "ad tech" business practices.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said that the U.S. company gives preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain's 1.8 billion pound ($2.4 billion) digital ad market. The watchdog leveled its accusations after an investigation, and the findings could potentially lead to a fine worth billions of dollars or an order to change its behavior.
Google is a major player throughout the digital ad ecosystem, providing servers for publishers to manage ad space on their websites and apps, tools for advertisers and media agencies to buy display ads, and an exchange where both sides come together to buy and sell ads in real time at auctions.
"We've provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites," the watchdog's interim executive director of enforcement, Juliette Enser, said in a press release.
The watchdog's charges, known as a statement of objections, arrive two years after it opened its investigation. Google's digital ad business is also the focus of a European Union antitrust investigation and a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that's set to go to trial this month.
The CMA said that Google's "anti-competitive" conduct is ongoing, but the company disputed the allegations Friday.
"Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector," the company said in a prepared... Read More