Vin Diesel starrer 'Fast & Furious 9' pushed until June 2021

Fans of the 'Fast & Furious' franchise will have to wait a little longer before they can catch the new instalment in cinemas. According to reports, Universal Pictures has delayed the global debut of the 'Fast & Furious' movie 'F9' by one month until June 25, the company said on Thursday. The latest shift by Hollywood studios is an attempt to gauge when the moviegoers would be willing to back to theatres again amid the pandemic. 

The move signaled that Universal is confident of a summer rebound as coronavirus vaccines become more widely available in the United States and Canada, which combined make up the world`s largest film market. Cinemas in New York City, the second-largest moviegoing region in the United States, are scheduled to start reopening on Friday.

Theater operators including AMC Entertainment, Cineworld Plc and Cinemark Holdings Inc are hoping they will have blockbusters movies to show this summer, typically their most lucrative season.

Movie studios do not want to release their most expensive action flicks until they can draw large crowds to recoup production and marketing costs.

The next big-budget action movie on the Hollywood schedule, Walt Disney Co`s Marvel movie 'Black Widow' is currently set to hit theatres on May 7. The film's release date has been changed multiple times the past year owing to the pandemic. 

The 'Fast & Furious' franchise about a group of street racers has rung up more than $5 billion in global ticket sales since the first movie was released in 2001.

'F9,' which stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, had originally been scheduled for release in April 2019 but has been postponed several times. Last year in February the film's trailer was unveiled just before the world went into a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Other films currently planned for summer include 'Top Gun: Maverick'starring Tom Cruise, and Marvel`s 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' both in July.

After moving 'F9' to late June, Universal has also postponed the release of animated movie 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' from early July 2021 until July 2022.

(With inputs from Reuters)