Last week, Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru postponed its worldwide theatrical release, which was set for late June in some overseas markets and July 3 domestically. It has now been set for July 2, 2021, taking the spot that belonged to Canta 2, which in turn is now scheduled for Christmas 2021 (December 22, domestically). Universal has therefore dropped Wicked from its 2021 holiday release, and the film remains undated for now.
These are further casualties of the coronavirus pandemic, as Illumination’s Mac Guff studio in Paris has been temporarily shut down due to the ongoing blockade in France, and Hollywood is struggling with its scheduling plans for the foreseeable, if unclear, future.
This year, Universal postponed the foreign release of the James Bond film “No Time to Die” and moved the theatrical release of “F9” to Easter weekend on April 2, 2021. On Tuesday, Sony screwed many titles. No studio is immune.
As for The Rise of Gru, Illumination’s Despicable Me films became the highest-grossing animated film franchise in history worldwide in 2017. Sing, released in 2016, grossed $634 million worldwide.
Director Stephen Daldry’s film Wicked is based on the hit Broadway musical, which won three Tony Awards.
We knew 2020 wouldn’t be nearly as big as 2019 in terms of box office results; it was supposed to be a transition year. But no one thought it would be as tough as this time.
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