It easy to say that Dave Bautista’s cinematic star has been on the rise for the last few years. Sure, there’s the immense success he’s found just from being apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Drax is the best). Yet, he’s also been able to line-up a steady stream of theatrical releases and DTV films. He’s starred alongside Jodie Foster and Sylvester Stallone. He’s been a Bond henchman and popped up in Blade Runner 2049. Heck, he even got his own Die Hard rip-off in Final Score. And it wasn’t half-bad. This summer was poised to be his mega break out, with the one-two leading punch of Stuber and My Spy. Though, as Deadline reports, the later is being shifted to early 2020.
If you don’t remember the plot of that movie, we’ve got you covered:
“My Spy follows JJ a hardened CIA operative (Dave Bautista) who has been demoted and finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, named Sophie (Chloe Coleman) where he has been sent undercover begrudgingly to surveil her family.”
Now, moving a film due to a crowded release date or not wanting to oversaturate the landscape with a star, isn’t anything new. What’s surprising is how close this is happening to the original release date. My Spy was set for August 23, just a little over a month away and 4 weeks removed from Stuber. Just as one film was dying down, people could potentially have had a double dose of Bautista. Don’t think anyone would have complained there.
The more logical reasoning for the move is simple: STX was worried about taking another dip in returns. A majority of their releases have under-performed and that’s not something they want to replicate moving forward. Specially after the situation they found themselves in last year, with Melissa McCarthy. In the middle of a busy year, McCarthy was unable to make press rounds for the company’s The Happytime Murders. Not that doing so would have necessarily helped the box office returns, there. Hopefully this is just a case of bad timing, rather than an indication that Bautista’s next film isn’t very good.
As soon as we have a firm indication of My Spy’s new release date, we’ll report on it. Maybe then we’ll get Bautista will put out an instructional video on his dance moves, from the film’s trailer. Crossing our fingers that happens, either way.
