Not just one Paramount movie is getting postponed this morning, but we heard that the studio’s April 3 action comedy The Lovebirds is also shifting following today’s big news that A Quiet Place Part II is not opening on Friday, March 20. Like a Quiet Place 2, Lovebirds’ release date is also unset.
Movie theaters stateside haven’t even declared stateside that they’re closing, and distribution is already pulling a number of big event titles as they brace for a worst case scenario of the coronavirus here in the U.S. One small chain told Deadline this morning that they’re already pondering going dark until this mania blows over.
Lovebirds, directed by Michael Showalter, was to make its world premiere at SXSW. Some time before SXSW finally pulled the plug on this year’s fest last Friday, Showalter, and pic’s stars Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae said they weren’t traveling to Austin, but the film would stay play.
In SXSW’s stubbornness to cancel their fest, Lovebirds star Kumail Nanjiani was expressing great concerns about the coronavirus outbreak on Twitter as his wife is immunocompromised.
Paramount is also moving the March 20 limited release of its gang drama Blue Story which was set to go in New York and LA next Friday, March 20.
Blue Story is directed by Onwubolu, who is known as Rapman on his successful YouTube videos. His film tells of two London youths whose lives are scarred by gang warfare. Its showing in the UK, where it’s made close to $6M, sparked a mass brawl at a weekend screening, causing at least two cinema chains to pull it from theaters.
The fight, which occurred in Birmingham in central England, involved around 100 people, including someone wielding a machete. Seven police officers were injured trying to quell the brawl.