Guy Ritchie's King Arthur movie has had a hell of a time making it to the big screen, but it seems the trials are not over yet. The movie has now been delayed by two months, and that's not the worst part. The worst part is that the new release date is May 12, 2017. The week after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premieres, meaning that Arthur has the odds stacked against Arthur making any money.
Prior to now, there were no major wide releases coming out on the second Friday of May in 2017. This was a calculated move by all of the studios to stay away from the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Guardians was being given a wide berth because the first movie was a huge hit, and considering how little known the property was at the time, that's saying something. Now, it's a sequel to a huge hit. If another big summer movie wants to make money they need to do so after Marvel has made theirs.
The previously held March 24, 2017 date is now being taken up by ChiPS according to The Hollywood Reporter. CHiPS was previously a summer movie with an August 11 release date. There's no explanation given for the changes so it's not clear if the decision to change things around was done to intentionally move King Arthur into the summer movie race or if there was an apparent need to take ChiPS out of it and Guy Ritchie drew the short straw. One could see this as a vote of confidence that King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is the movie to bring in the summer movie dollars for Warner Bros. Though, one would think that Wonder Woman, coming out less than a month later, is the film saddled with those expectations.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter. It just seems that Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is destined to get repeatedly screwed with. The movie has been delayed twice previously, it was originally supposed to be released this past summer, and that's following an epic production schedule. At this point, one wonders if the movie will ever actually see the light of day. At least we have the trailer.
We're certainly curious to see what King Arthur: Legend of the Sword brings to the table when it finally gets to it. It's certainly going to be a unique take on the Arthur legend and Guy Ritchie may be just the, well, guy, to breathe new life into the classic tale.
