Way back in August 2020, Tom Cruise made a show of masking up to enter a movie theater for the first time in months to see Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s time-defying movie that also defied pandemic safety by opening only in theaters to be seen in person. Over a year later, you won’t get to do the same just yet for Cruise’s upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, as Paramount has moved the film’s opening date from November 19 to Memorial Day weekend 2022, Deadline has reported. And Paramount has moved its other Cruise star vehicle, Mission Impossible 7, from Memorial Day weekend to September 30, 2022. Oh, and in delays for action movies that don’t star Tom Cruise, Jackass Forever has been pushed back from its scheduled October 22 opening to February 4, 2022. Per Deadline, Paramount cited the current wave of the COVID-19 Delta variant for the delays — but not all studios seem to be thinking the same way. With news of the Paramount postponements, Sony Pictures has moved Ghostbusters: Afterlife from November 11 to November 19, seizing on the pre-Thanksgiving opening date vacated by Maverick. But hey, if any star would support a move being made in the name of COVID-19 safety, Tom Cruise would, right?
