Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Lisa Laman | Film | August 21, 2025
In March 2020, the movie theaters stopped. For the first time in decades, American movie theaters were shut down. Only the COVID-19 pandemic could grind everything to a halt and turn the cinematic world upside down. Throughout summer 2020, whispers kept emerging over when and what new theatrical releases would relaunch the moviegoing landscape. Surely these titles would soon arrive and ensure Bloodshot wasn’t the very last new movie to grace multiplexes. As a COVID vaccine was still months away and the two biggest moviegoing markets (New York City and Los Angeles) were keeping theaters closed, plans to “resume” “normal” moviegoing with a mid-July 2020 launch of Tenet soon went away.
Eventually, the first* new wide theatrical releases in the United States of America would begin rolling out on August 21, 2020. They would be the canaries in the coal mine before Tenet launched over Labor Day weekend two frames later. The movies that received this honor were Unhinged and The New Mutants (plus Words on Bathroom Walls, Bill & Ted Face the Music, and The Personal History of David Copperfield in significantly fewer multiplexes).
Five years ago, Unhinged and New Mutants tried to kickstart a new era of post-March 2020 theatrical cinema. To say it didn’t go well was an understatement.
The American theatrical marketplace was already hindered circa. August 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic still raging across the land without a vaccine in sight. While multiplex chains like Cinemark and AMC rushed to reopen their doors, many potential audience members stayed at home for the safety of themselves and their loved ones. Within these circumstances, launching any new hit movie would be impossible. Even considering those hurdles, Unhinged and New Mutants, though, were especially bizarre choices as the “first” major new post-March 2020 theatrical releases.
For one thing, these were dreary movies. Unhinged’s marketing was all about emphasizing Russell Crowe as a VERY angry driver. Its advertising was soaked in subdued colors and a very aggressive aesthetic. New Mutants, meanwhile, was the first (and so far last) horror movie involving X-Men mutants. Back when its first teaser trailer dropped in fall 2017, its darker, more ominous aesthetic was meant to make it appealing to horror geeks who might not otherwise see a superhero movie. When Mutants hit theaters on August 28, 2020, though, that downbeat ambiance made it look like the wrong movie at the wrong time. Who needed more misery in this chaotic year?
There was also the simple fact that, without Los Angeles and New York City theaters open, these titles didn’t have a prayer for success. The two biggest markets for motion pictures in North America, not having access to these gigantic pockets of moviegoers was a death blow to Unhinged and The New Mutants. There was now a permanent ceiling on just how “lucrative” these titles could be or how much money theaters could make from their theatrical runs. Rushing to reopen theaters and return to pre-March 2020 “normalcy” was a fool’s errand with this obstacle in the way.
When the dust settled, Unhinged grossed $20.83 million domestically and The New Mutants only scrounged up $23.85 million. The only consolation for both projects was that they at least made more than 2021 theatrical-exclusive titles like Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and Dear Evan Hansen, which had reopened NY/LA theaters and way more marketing to help them out. Otherwise, these were dismal numbers reflecting how Hollywood had totally bungled and rushed trying to return to theatrical cinema “normalcy.” Inevitably, Tenet also came in under expectations in North America and movie theaters largely went quiet from Labor Day weekend to Christmas Day 2020 (save for The War with Grandpa’s leggy October run).
Five years ago, movie theaters were supposed to come roaring back to life. Instead, they were dealt an embarrassing blow that only underscored how, whether intentionally or not, short-term monetary gain had been prioritized over the health of moviegoers. Dismal reviews for Unhinged and The New Mutants only amplified the toxicity surrounding this release strategy. The grand theatrical cinema “relaunch” had been driven by the cinematic equivalent of scraps. It was just a gigantic mess all around, particularly with the awkward radio silence theatrical releases went into after Tenet. The movies were “back” for three weeks and then went back into COVID-induced hibernation.
This Unhinged/New Mutants double-whammy only looks sillier in hindsight thanks to the COVID-delayed movies that excelled after exhibiting patience. Top Gun: Maverick and Minions: The Rise of Gru debuted exclusively in theaters two years after their respective initial 2020 release dates. Candyman, meanwhile, was delayed 14 months from its June 2020 launchpad and became a sleeper box office hit. Audiences rewarded patience mightily with massive financial returns. Barreling back to theaters didn’t do Unhinged, New Mutants, or Tenet, for that matter, any favors.
It’s been five years since this ill-fated theatrical release strategy, yet the toxic overtones of this strategy and other COVID-19 responses still reverberate throughout society. Far smarter people than me have talked about how the dilution and downplaying of COVID-19 (which is still an ongoing health crisis as of this writing) by able-bodied souls is a form of pervasive ableism.
Emphasizing a return to “normalcy” as important above else or mocking ways to minimize COVID’s effects is just one of countless ways American society reflects and expresses contempt for disabled lives. You can draw a straight line from folks prioritizing the reopening of a local Regal Cinemas over human lives to a 2025 where the Secretary of Health and Human Services champions disgusting anti-autism rhetoric. It’s all part of the same horrific tapestry.
Suggesting a scenario where a crummy Russell Crowe star vehicle or a dismal X-Men spin-off are prioritized above people’s health sounds, in the abstract, like a dark joke. But it was the brutal and chilling reality of August 2020. Even just examining this release strategy from a cynical, monetary perspective, relaunching theatrical cinema with Unhinged and The New Mutants was a baffling strategy given how a little patience worked wonders for later COVID-affected hits like Top Gun: Maverick. This whole scenario was a top-to-bottom disaster and a microcosm of how badly the film industry responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
*= A handful of IFC Films/Quiver Distribution titles like The Wretched and Becky had played in a smattering of drive-in theaters between March and August 2020. As for major pre-Unhinged North American theatrical releases, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run opened in 300 Canadian theaters over August 14-16.
