When A QUIET PLACE PART 2 had its world premiere 3/8/20 at New York’s Lincoln Center, no one dreamed it wouldn’t actually open until Memorial Day 2021.
In those final pre-pandemic days, Paramount/Platinum Dunes’ R-rated horror thriller was arriving 3/18 (pictured – Emily Blunt at the premiere). Then the world changed, and a new release date was set — Labor Day (9/4) to end the summer of 2020. A 6-month delay sounded realistic but wasn’t. By July, Paramount pushed it to 4/23/21, which certainly sounded safe, but wasn’t. In January 2021, it went to 9/17.
AQP2, of course, wasn’t the only now-you-see it-now-you-don’t film. Everything was fleeing to better times. Finally, the tide turned. In early March, director John Krasinski revealed it would now open earlier – to start this summer Memorial Day weekend (5/28 at some 3,700 locations).
Now, with 5/28 fast approaching, AQP2’s tracking great with an average first choice score more than 3 times the norm. Plus, advance ticket sales, per Fandango, are now twice as strong as they were back in March 2020. It points to a moviegoing recovery that until recently Wall Street was insisting we’d never see.