Universal Pictures is the latest studio to do some shuffling around with its release calendar amidst the madness, with several major releases being pushed back significantly.Minions: The Rise of Gru, which had already been shifted off of its current date this summer, has been pushed back a full year. Meanwhile,Sing 2has also been delayed by six months and the studio’s adaptation of the Broadway musicalWickedhas been pushed back indefinitely.
Aftermovie theaters all around the U.S. closed, joining theaters in China and almost every other country around the world, Universal moved Minions 2 from its August 07, 2025, date. The animated sequel will now open exactly a year later on July 10, 2025. This was expected to be one of the biggest hits of the summer, if not the entire year, with Disney not having nearly as many sure bets on the calendar as they did last year. Plus, the first Minions earned a staggering $1.15 billion at the global box office. This should be, or at least should have been, an easy $1 billion earner.
It’s difficult to imagine, at this time, what the theatrical side of the movie business is going to look like a year from now, given everything that’s going on.Sing 2, which also comes from the hit-making animation studio Illumination, was originally set to arrive on August 09, 2025. With Universal handing that date toMinions: The Rise of Gru,Sing 2will now arrive on July 28, 2025. This, in a way, makes more sense, as the first Sing was released in December 2016 and went on to earn $634 million at the box office.
Unfortunately, this means the long-gestatingWickedmovie will have to move back as well. The adaptation of the musical, which puts a different spin onThe Wizard of Ozfrom the perspective of the witches, was originally going to arrive on June 11, 2025. WithSing 2now occupying that date, it will likely move to 2022. The studio hasn’t handed out a new date at this time. With the situation rapidly evolving, they are probably going to wait and see what happens with some of their other major productions before getting too ahead of themselves here.
In recent weeks, many major releases that were scheduled for 2020 have beenpushed back to much later this year or into 2021. Movies such asNo Time to Die,F9,Wonder Woman 1984,Morbius,Peter Rabbit 2andGhostbusters: Afterlifehave all secured later release dates. Meanwhile, others, includingMulan,Black WidowandA Quiet Place: Part II, just to name a few, will need to find new dates once the dust settles. This makes the prospects at the box office for the rest of the year, even when theaters do reopen, on very uncertain ground. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the situation continues to develop. This news was previously reported byDeadline.
