Universal has decided on a new release date for Illumination's delayed family animated tentpole Minions: The Rise of Gru: July 2, 2021, exactly a year after it was originally set to hit the big screen.
Wednesday's announcement was among several moves made by the studio as it continued to reshuffle its release calendar due to the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic, including unprecedented theater closures and disruptions in the production and postproduction processes.
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Illumination's Sing 2 — which was originally set to open on July 2, 2021, Gru's new home — is being pushed back to Dec. 22, 2021, which in turn leaves Wicked homeless for the time being.
Last month, Universal and Illumination said it would prove impossible to finish needed post work on Rise of Gru in time for its early July release date since they were closing the Illumination Mac Guff studio in Paris.
Delaying Sing 2's release provides cushion for Illumination and Universal, since no one is sure when moviegoing and production will return to business-as-usual.
Universal said Wicked — the long-gestating film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name — will be redated at a later time.
