How WGA Strike can affect production-ready films

Unlike Covid, which forced a sudden and immediate shutdown to halt movie productions costing studios somewhere north of $30 million per frame, the WGA strike that began today has been planned and prepared for by Hollywood majors since last fall .

Several studios have their 2024 theatrical releases in post-production, although there are some exceptions.

The contracts for the DGA and SAG-AFTRA only expire on June 30, some film productions have already started before that. Studios have devised workarounds: a handful of tentpole productions are shot overseas where there isn’t a strong Teamster presence, and the possibility of a recording shutdown is less likely. In addition, studios banned scripts from productions or they got permission not to have a writer on set. The priority in the event of a shutdown: get the big action scenes out of the way first. If there is still a WGA strike over Memorial Day weekend, we’re told the studios will reconsider their planned start of production in June.

RELATED: Full WGA strike coverage from Deadline

Both the directors’ and actors’ unions must work until June 30, when both the DGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts expire.

SAG-AFTRA sent out a memo in late April instructing members: “If you are hired to work on a project that continues production while the WGA is on strike, you have a legal obligation under your personal employment contract and the no-strike clause to continue to work in our collective agreements.” The DGA also issued a strike ban for its members.

Movies currently in production include the Sony reteam starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence bad boys 4 with directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah in Atlanta; by Sony ghostbusters Directed by Gil Kenan in NYC (out Dec. 20), the sequel to Culver City Studio’s Blake Lively and Jenny Slate romance drama It ends with us The title Focus Features by Robert Eggers nosferatu, in Central Europe (and nearing completion); and Legendary fear of death, which will wrap up the Louisiana shoot in two weeks. There is also something new from the 20th century alien Film by Fede Alvarez, which will be shot in Budapest and will be completed in mid-June.

bad boys 4, for which there is still no start date, will henceforth be filmed without interruption within the framework of the collective agreements SAG-AFTRA and DGA. Completion is also planned for mid-June.

Also in production is Disney/Marvel Studios’ Captain America: New World Order, which is expected to start next summer on May 3, 2024. Jon M. Chu’s hit Broadway film Bad, to be published in two parts by Universal, nearing completion in London; The studio dropped the first frames of the picture at CinemaCon. Bad part 1 hits theaters on November 27, 2024.

Again, when the studios have the goods and are ready to go, they will roll cameras. Among those slated for a June launch is that of Marvel lightning strike (Release date: July 26, 2024), Paramount has no title gladiator Continued in Europe (November 22, 2024), along with several undated pictures, including Warner Bros. bug juice in the UK on June 9 Clint Eastwood’s Jury #2 on June 19 and New Line’s Mortal Kombat 2.

Meanwhile, other high-profile pictures are still in the pipeline and may await the attack, such as: B. that of Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Release date: December 20, 2024) and Superman: LegacyWarner Bros’ first film in James Gunn’s DC Universe, Gods and Monsters, is expected to begin production in early 2024 for a July 11, 2025 theatrical release.

The biggest impact an on-set strike will have on these films is to keep the cameras rolling without a writer on set; No changes can be made to the scenario. The Teamsters can also respond to production delays filming in the United States.

Of the 2024 post-production releases, the cast of Barry Levinson of Warner Bros Bollebozen (Release Date: February 2), Legendary’s Godzilla/King Cong Reteam (March 24), Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 (March 29), furiosa (May 24) and the undated one Coyote vs. Acme. Paramount will also be there next year Bob Marley: One Love (January 12), A quiet place: day one (March 8), John Krasinski IF (May 24) and even Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2 (June 28).

As the strike progresses, it must be determined which paper projects with talent attachments will be canceled due to force majeure. This was the case during the 2007-2008 strike when Warner Bros. killed an attack planned by George Miller justice league with Adam Brody as The Flash and fresh actors Armie Hammer as Batman and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman. Productions of this film were further complicated by the lack of Australian tax breaks and the need for writers Kieran and Michele Mulroney to polish the script. Other planned pictures, unrelated at the time, were those of Oliver Stone Pinkville about the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, starring Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum.

Disney’s release schedule looks solid in terms of release dates until early 2024 with animation Elio on March 1 and Snow White on March 22.

Haste doesn’t help either, though, and the 2007-2008 strike spawned a string of films that failed at both the box office and critics. On that list was the Rob Marshall musical Nine ($54 million in worldwide box office, $80 million in costs) and the Will Ferrell remake of the 1970s TV series land of the lost ($68.8 million WW, $100 million cost). Although there was no strike in 2001, the anticipation of a strike at the studios led to substandard films such as The truth about Charlie, Reign of Fire And dark blue

As we previously reported, if the WGA strike lasts four months or longer, meaning deeper into 2024 and beyond, studios will be forced to reschedule their films to later release dates.