Due to the rising fear of coronavirus, fans of the Fast and Furious franchise would be waiting a whole extra year to watch the much-anticipated sequel.
Last Thursday, following the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, an announcement from Universal Pictures has made it clear that F9 will be in cinemas from April 2, 2021, instead of May 22, 2020.
On behalf of the franchise, the movie’s official Twitter page issued a statement.
It read: “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.”
“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,” added the announcement.
The same Thursday, it was also announced by John Krasinski that his upcoming iteration, A Quiet Place 2, is also going to delay its release date owing to coronavirus.
A Quiet Place 2 has already had its premiere last week in New York and was set to hit US cinemas on March 18. Krasinski has not yet issued a new date for the release of the movie.
F9 is the fourth big movie that has been delayed owing to the increasing hazard of coronavirus world over.
No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond movie and the last movie to feature Daniel Craig as a secret agent, is also postponed till November this year.
The movie was initially set to release internationally by the end of March.
Other movies to delay their release date include Peter Rabbit 2, which was going to be released this April and has now been delayed till August.
These unusually extreme changes in movie releases are being made in order to avoid large gatherings of people at one place that can possibly spread the virus at a great rate.
Even the NBA has delayed the rest of its running season because of one of the players testing positive for COVID-19.
So far, there are 1,323 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States and the virus has claimed 38 lives in the country. Globally, there are 127,000 cases of the virus and the current death toll is 4,718.
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