Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros, WB Animation | Tagged: one battle after another, paul thomas anderson, the bride, weapons, Zach Cregger

Warner Bros. Shifts The Release Dates Of The Bride!, Weapons, And More

Warner Bros. has shifted the release dates of several films including Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!, Zach Cregger's Weapons, and more.

Published Thu, 20 Mar 2025 07:17:08 -0500

by Kaitlyn Booth

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Article Summary

Warner Bros. reshuffles 2025-2026 movie release dates, impacting several anticipated films.
The Bride! shifts to March 6, 2026, avoiding clash with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another now opens on September 26, 2025.
Zach Cregger's Weapons moves to August 8, 2025, preview footage teased at CinemaCon.

Warner Bros. has had a weird start to 2025. They have released several movies, but nothing has really exploded at the box office. Companion did well, but it was a slow burn, and we all know studios aren't patient enough to wait for the slow burns. This month, they released two movies with weird marketing runs for both of them, and it's unclear whether either will succeed at the box office. So word coming down from Variety that they are shifting some movies around is not surprising at all, considering the year they have had so far.

Walter Hamada Is Reportedly Stepping Down As President of DC Films — Outside views of the Warner Brothers Studios Buildings on September 13, 2015. Editorial credit: Oscity / Shutterstock.com

Warner Bros. Makes Some Changes After A Weird Start Of The Year

The first film is Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, One Battle After Another. Warner Bros. has shifted the release date a little, moving it from August 8th to September 26th. The push, according to insiders, has to do with making sure movie theaters with VistaVision projection systems are the ones being used in theaters. We don't know much about this one in terms of plot, but it will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor.

One of the many different variations of Frankenstein has shifted its release date. The Bride! is one of those films that has been hanging out in varying levels of development for a hot minute now, but it's finally off the ground, with the fantastic Maggie Gyllenhaal directing, and was supposed to come out later this year. What was also set to come out later this year was Guillermo del Toro's version of Frankenstein on Netflix. Warner Bros. made the smart decision to shift the film from September to March 6, 2026. Not only did they have pretty good luck in March (maybe not this year), but it will also give both films room to breathe. It's described as "a steampunk twist on Frankenstein's monster and his spouse." Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley are set to star.

One of the things that Warner Bros. leaned pretty heavily on when marketing Companion earlier this year was its connection to director Zach Cregger and his film Barbarian. That film came out of nowhere and everyone has been anxious for his next original feature. The film is titled Weapons and is moving on up. The film was once set for a January 2026 release date has shifted to that now open August 8th release date. The late summer is when Barbarian was released, and it did well, so it makes sense. Reports say we'll see some footage of this during CinemaCon next month, so stay tuned for that. The film is being described as a "multi-story horror epic starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner."

Finally, we have two unknowns. Flowervale Street stars Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, and Maisy Stella and will open on August 14, 2026, from March 2026, likely the release date that The Bride! just snagged. August and September are weird months for Warner Bros.; they seem to either hit it out of the ballpark or spectacularly fall apart. We don't know much about this one aside from the fact that a family in the '80s starts noticing weird things happening around their neighborhood. David Robert, who directed It Follows a horror film you probably have strong feelings about one way or another, and is produced by J.J. Abrams.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Warner Bros. is trying to tell us they haven't given up on animation. Or at least, they haven't given up on IP-driven animation, as the new version of The Cat in the Hat shifted its release date by two weeks, moving to February 27, 2026. Maybe they won't try to shelve this one and then wait for Ketchup Entertainment to jump in and save the day.