‘F9’ Release Date Pushed a Year Due to Coronavirus

As fears of the coronavirus (AKA COVID-19) continue to spread, Hollywood is taking note. Several films are pushing their release dates back – but most of the pushes are only for a few weeks or months. That’s not the case for F9, though. The highly-anticipated new Fast and Furious movie just revealed it’s pushing its release date back for an entire year, from May 2020 to April 2021.

Today, Universal sent out the following message regarding the F9 release date.

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To our family of Fast fans everywhere,

We feel all the love and the anticipation you have for the next chapter in our saga.

 That’s why it’s especially tough to let you know that we have to move the release date of the film.  It’s become clear that it won’t be possible for all of our fans around the world to see the film this May.

 We are moving the global release date to April 2021, with North America opening on April 2.   While we know there is disappointment in having to wait a little while longer, this move is made with the safety of everyone as our foremost consideration.

Moving will allow our global family to experience our new chapter together.  We’ll see you next spring.

Much love,

Your Fast Family

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Feel free to insert your own Fast and Furious + Corona beer joke here. In all seriousness, fears of the coronavirus are at a fever-pitch across the globe, with major outbreaks in mainland China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran. Here in the United States, diagnosed cases have exceeded 1,000 as of March 10, 2020, with confirmed cases in 44 out of the 50 U.S. states, and the District of Columbia.

While news of the F9 delay will no doubt upset fans who were excited to return to the franchise this summer, it’s arguably the responsible thing to do. Still, delaying the film for an entire year rather than a few months also seems excessive. The latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, was the first film to shuffle its release due to the virus, moving from April 2020 to November 2020. Since then, the family film My Spy was pushed from March to April due to fears of the virus, and A Quiet Place Part II and The Lovebirds (both Paramount movies) were just pulled from their respective upcoming release dates with new dates TBA. It’s becoming more and more likely that this is the “new normal” we find ourselves in, and that no future movie release date is set in stone.

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