Warner Bros has just made some razor-sharp release-date changes ahead of CinemaCon, ones that could potentially keep the Burbank, CA lot more toward the black this year than in the red.
In a year when there were four $100 million-plus auteur-driven movies — one of which, Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, recently misfired — Warners Bros distribution has taken the pressure off the studios’ schedule in that regard, and even placed a potential tentpole into the year: Zach Cregger’s anticipated genre movie Weapons on August 8.
Cregger’s next movie after Barbarian was previously scheduled for MLK weekend 2026, on January 16. What kept Warners from moving the pic starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner and Alden Ehrenreich 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 was that each was tied to Imax bookings. As one insider called the release shifts revealed Wednesday, “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 August 8 to September 26 (which is where Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! was).
It was out there in the ether that the PTA movie, which also stars Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Regina Hall, would move; it just wasn’t clear to where. What makes this date special is that Warners will not only have access to Imax hubs but also select theaters that play 70mm and VistaVision. Brady Corbet’s 3x Oscar-winning The Brutalist shot in VistaVision.
It’s TBD if the PTA movie gets a fall film festival launch. Word is that it’s not always his preference to launch that way, but he’s done it before: His 2014 movie Inherent Vice (also a Warners release) premiered at the New York Film Festival, while 2012’s The Master world premiered at Venice. PTA’s latest, which reportedly costs around $140M, will now release opposite Lionsgate’s Saw XI and Universal’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie.
The Bride! now will go on March 6, 2026, putting 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.
Christian Bale in ‘The Bride!’ first look
Warner Bros.
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 February 27, 2026. That’s a week before Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers debuts on March 6. Also, the new date for Cat in Hat gives the family feature an advantage with some promotional opportunities overseas. Now Cat in the Hat, with a voice cast including Bill Hader, Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry and Paula Pell, 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 August 14, 2026. The studio believes it’s a commercial movie and has snapped up 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 Warner Bros’ release-date schedule looks like now:
2025
March 21 — The 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
August 8 — Weapons
September 5 — Conjuring: Last Rites
September 26 — One Battle After Another
October 10 — Animal Friends
October 24 — Mortal Kombat 2
November 21 — Untitled WB Event film
December 19 — Untitled Event Film
2026
February 13 — Wuthering Heights
February 27 — The Cat in the Hat
March 6 — The Bride!
March 27 — Untitled horror movie
April 17 — Untitled Atomic Monster/Blumhouse
May 29 — DC event movie
June 19 — Untitled event film
June 26 — Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
July 3 — Untitled event movie
August 7 — Untitled event movie
August 14 — Flowervale Street
September 11 — Clayface
September 18 — Untitled event film
October 2 — Tom Cruise/Alejandro G. Iñárritu movie
October 16 — Untitled event film
November 6 — Untitled event film
November 20 — Untitled New Line event film
December 18 – Denis Villeneuve event film (Dune 3, perhaps?)
December 25 — Untitled New Line event film
The InSneider first had the news that Weapons was going to sneak into 2025.
