The release date of Priyanka Chopra's first big movie in the US has been postponed by a week. The film, Baywatch, will now release on 26 May instead of its earlier scheduled 19 May.
The postponement puts Baywatch in direct contention with the next edition of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The decision to postpone the film seems to be based on the fact that 19 May was the scheduled release of several films like Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, Alien Covenant, The Nut Job 2 and Annabelle 2. The decision will now ensure that Chopra's film competes with one big franchise than multiple others.
Baywatch has a great cast going for it, including Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario alongside Chopra. It is also the movie reprisal of one of US television's longest running hit series, Baywatch. However, Depp has had quite a bad run at the box-office in the last couple of years with films like Alice Through The Looking Glass tanking. On the other hand, Johnson has risen to be a box-office success with consecutive hits in San Andreas and Central Intelligence, as well as the recent Disney animation, Moana. The other advantage for Chopra's film is that its postponed release now falls on the Memorial Day weekend. The three-day holiday from 26 May to 29 May offers the film the advantage of time. This also looks like the main reason for its postponement, allowing the film to compete with one big blockbuster over a longer period of time, rather than compete with multiple films over a shorter weekend.
Though Chopra has maintained a subdued silence on the Indian market, her clout in the U.S. is rising rapidly. This might just be the film to take it to the next level. The trailer to Baywatch is set to release later this week.