With the likes of Twilight and The Hunger Games under their belts, Lionsgate bought the rights to the next-big-thing in the world of Young Adult fiction, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, in 2011. Set in a dystopian world where all living things can see and hear each other's thoughts, the books chronicle a battle for survival after a virus wipes out half the planet. Teenage protagonists Todd and Viola join forces to discover the truth behind the events that have shattered their world and embark on a white-knuckle adventure against the oppressive forces that try to stop them.

Several years after buying the rights, Lionsgate gathered together a number of major players to bring the movie to life. The film was to be the next big thing in Tom Holland's career, and Daisy Ridley, fresh from playing Rey in Star Wars, was brought in to star alongside him. Doug Liman was hired as director, and other actors were bought in, including a career move for Nick Jonas, and roles for David Oyelowo and Mads Mikkelsen, amongst others. Shooting commenced in 2017, and while it seemingly went well, Lionsgate was not happy with the finished results.

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Lionsgate Considered The Movie "Unreleasable"

As reported within this article on the movie by IndieWire, the $100 million dollar film was deemed 'unreleasable' by the studio execs at Lionsgate. Bearing in mind that this is the studio that has already released such stinkers as Uwe Boll's Alone in the Dark and (shudder) Fred 3: Camp Fred into the world, the film must have been horrid if they decided to hold back on its release.

Of course, the fact that a substantial amount of money had been invested in the film must have made the studio panic when they realized that they stood to make significant financial losses if critical reaction scuppered the film's chances. So, rather than scrapping it in its entirety, they ordered extensive reshoots. The original release date of March 2019 was canceled, and the film was tentatively pushed back for a 2020 release.

So, will we get to see it this year? Erm...no!

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The Chaotic Events That Followed

Reshoots require the cast and crew to get back together, but for Chaos Walking, there was one problem. Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley had moved onto other things. Holland was busy filming scenes for Spiderman: Far From Home, and Ridley was busy wielding a lightsaber in scenes for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. The reshoots were supposed to take place in April 2018, but due to the stars' busy shooting schedules, cameras didn't roll until April 2019. This pushed the film back again, and so the chances of a 2020 release were unlikely. The author of the novel had to be brought in too, as the original script was considered a mess. The product of 'too many cooks spoiling the stew,' or in this case, too many writers, Ness was hired to write new material to make the film work for audiences. Whether his efforts have been worthwhile remains to be discovered. These events pushed the film back further, but there is hope for fans of the stars and the Chaos Walking trilogy.

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The End Is In Sight

After an estimated $15 million in reshoots, the film now has a new release date. As confirmed by Deadline, we should see Chaos Walking hit our cinema screens on January 22nd, 2021. We don't know if studio Lionsgate is entirely happy with the finished results, but at least fans of the novel will have the opportunity to see their favorite work of fiction on the big screen soon. Of course, that is assuming the world will have gone back to normal by then because the characters of Chaos Walking aren't the only people to suffer a changed life because of a virus. With cinemas currently closed, and with no date of them reopening any time soon, could we see another delay to the film's release? Or, as is the case with recent movie releases, will it follow the likes of Bloodshot's transition to online streaming services? At this stage, we don't have the answer.

Will The Reshoots Have Been Worth It?

Let's just hope the movie is a worthy one. Doug Liman is certainly a good director, as his work on Edge of Tomorrow and the first Bourne film testifies. Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley are both excellent actors, so even if the film is a mess, we can expect good work from the two stars. And the source novels have been critically acclaimed, so there is scope for something promising. But as is the case with many films that have suffered reshoots, we might end up with something that has been a waste of the studio money.

Dolittle was one recent box office bomb that underwent major reshoots, and we can add such films as Geostorm and the 2015 Fantastic Four movie to the list marked 'failure' after reshoots too. Still, Rogue One and Back to the Future were also movies that became the subject of reshoots, and look how well they turned out!

Here's hoping that, out of the chaos, comes a movie that does justice to the work of the author. We will find out for ourselves when the movie hits cinema screens (hopefully) in 2021.

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