'Top Gun: Maverick,' 'Mission: Impossible 7,' 'Jackass' release dates move yet again

Paramount Pictures is tapping out of the 2021 box office battle, moving its release dates for "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Jackass Forever" to 2022 and further delaying the latest "Mission Impossible" installment, which was scheduled to come out next spring.

It's the fourth official COVID-era release-date move for the "Top Gun" sequel, and the sixth overall, as Maverick and company continue to circle, looking for a place to safely land. Originally slated to come out July 12, 2019, the Tom Cruise tentpole's most recent target date of Nov. 19, 2021, was just ejected in favor of May 27, 2022, when one can only hope the pandemic and lockdowns will be behind us.

That May 27 date had previously been reserved for the seventh "M:I" movie, which has also experienced multiple COVID-related production delays (and one infamous COVID-related blowup by its star/producer). "M:I 7" has bounced to Sept. 30, 2022.

The "Jackass" movie crashes out of an Oct. 2 release to Feb. 4, 2022. Believe it or don't, the "Jackass" franchise has grossed just shy of half a billion dollars worldwide ($497.1 million to be exact, according to The Numbers). No wonder people keep climbing those milk crates.

Though 2021 has seen some hits, box office totals are still well down when compared with last year (including a few months before the COVID-19 shutdowns began) and are, of course, way down from the first half of 2019.

With the Delta variant raging and viewing habits changing, studios continue to scramble to find the right mix and timing to maximize their investments. Scores of films' release dates have been affected, though Sony is holding to its plan to domestically release Daniel Craig's final James Bond entry, "No Time to Die," on Oct. 8 (its sixth release date, though not all of the changes were due to COVID-19).

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.