The Green Knight, A24’s long-awaited Arthurian horror film starring Dev Patel, will not be hitting cinemas as planned in the U.K.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the feature, from writer-director David Lowery and also starring Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan and Ralph Ineson, has been pulled from its scheduled launch on Aug. 6, with cinemas advised by Entertainment Film Distributors — which is handling the U.K. release — to withdraw all trailers and posters until further notice.
In the U.S., however, The Green Knight — which has been amassing hugely positive responses from early review screenings — isn’t going anywhere. THR has confirmed that the domestic release date of July 30 still stands.
THR understands that the U.K. decision — which comes just two weeks before the official launch — was made by Entertainment due to COVID-19 concerns in the country, which is currently experiencing a surge in infection rates due to the Delta variant of the virus, a situation that has forced several major productions to pause. Exhibitors now fear that it could lead to a flurry of similar moves by distributors.
As it happens, the A24 title isn’t the only film to be pushed from British schedules. THR has also heard that The Duke, Roger Michell’s British comedy-drama starring Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren and Fionn Whitehead that Warner Bros. is distributing in the U.K., has been bumped from its Sept. 3 slot and moved to March/April 2022.
One insider speculated that, given the current situation in the U.K. and rising fear levels over the virus, films that would primarily appeal to older audiences — which include The Duke — were the ones being rescheduled to later dates.
Last month it was revealed that Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s hotly anticipated sci-fi remake, was being pushed back a month in both the U.K. and U.S. by Warner Bros, from Sept. 17 to Oct. 22. However, the widespread assumption was that the move was made primarily to provide some breathing space between that film — getting its world premiere in Venice — and the earlier release of new James Bond pic No Time to Die on Sept. 30 (Oct. 8 in the U.S.).