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Coronavirus delay will make movies better, insists ‘Doctor Strange’ director Scott Derrickson

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 26:  Director Scott Derrickson attends the 'Doctor Strange' fan event at Zoo Palast on October 26, 2016 in Berlin, Germany.  (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 26: Director Scott Derrickson attends the 'Doctor Strange' fan event at Zoo Palast on October 26, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)

The repeated delays to the 2020 film schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic has left moviegoers frustrated.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has now revealed a potential silver lining to this dire situation, as he insists that these setbacks will undoubtedly make each delayed film better.

Taking to Twitter, Derrickson wrote, “The pushing of all these big tentpole release dates will increase their overall quality — more time for script & production design development.”

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The Exorcism Of Emily Rose and Sinister director pointed out that the critically acclaimed dystopian sci-fi Blade Runner was one such film that benefitted from a delay ahead of its 1982 release.

He explained that the film “looks so amazing because Ridley Scott & his team took a year during the 80-81 actors & WGA strikes to perfect the visuals.”

Derrickson even had an example of his own, revealing that the postponement of Doctor Strange back in December, 2014, allowed him to make improvements to the script and visuals.

A sign in the door of an Odeon cinema in South Woodford, London, which has closed due to coronavirus. On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres, work from home if possible and avoid all non-essential contacts and travel in order to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
A sign in the door of an Odeon cinema in South Woodford, London, which has closed due to coronavirus. (PA)

“Additionally, we pushed the release date for Doctor Strange five months in order to get Benedict Cumberbatch. Had we not done that, we would not have had time to get the script right or figure out how to achieve a lot of the visuals.”

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Unfortunately, Derrickson won’t be able to work the same magic on its upcoming sequel, as he left the project earlier this year, with Sam Raimi now attached to direct.

Raimi will now get a bit more time to prepare for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, as it is going to be released on November 5.