'The Green Knight' Will Now Open In Theaters Summer 2021
If you were holding out hope that A24 would just finally give in and release The Green Knight on VOD soon, I'm sorry to tell you that's not happening. But here's the good news: the film has a new release date – next summer. And for now, the plan is to release the Dev Patel pic in theaters, not on VOD. The David Lowery-directed movie was originally supposed to open May 29, 2020, but that obviously didn't happen. Since then, we've all been waiting to see what A24 would do, and now we know.
I don't want to get into yet another argument about theatrical vs. streaming, but I will say that I was really hoping A24 would drop The Green Knight on VOD sometime soon – be it before 2020 ended, or in early 2021. But A24 really wants this one to have its day in theaters, and so they've given it a new theatrical release date: July 30, 2021. While the fate of theatrical releases remains in question at the moment, there's a very good chance that by the summer of 2021 the coronavirus vaccine will allow theaters to be back in full swing, so it makes sense for A24 to wait. But from a purely selfish standpoint, I was hoping to see this sooner rather than later. Oh well! The Green Knight was supposed to premiere at SXSW in 2020, but SXSW got canceled due to the coronavirus. Then, the film missed its May 29 release date. Fingers crossed it has better luck in 2021.
Written and directed by David Lowery, The Green Knight is a retelling of the Arthurian legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Here's a synopsis:
An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger.
In addition to Dev Patel, the film stars Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Barry Keoghan, Ralph Ineson, and Sean Harris. "We were really rushing to try to get done by SXSW, and the movie, if we showed it there, would not have been fully finished," Lowery previously said. "It would have been close, but not quite done. If we had to release the movie tomorrow, it would be pretty close to where it needs to be. But we're able to take a breather and sit with it...All I can say is that at some point audiences will see it. And they'll see it in the best way possible, given the circumstances. Hopefully, that's in theaters. Hopefully, theaters survive."