Coronavirus Outbreak — Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick, earlier scheduled for 24 June, postponed to 23 December

Los Angeles: The release of the much-anticipated movie sequel to Top Gun has been moved to December, Paramount Pictures said on Thursday, the latest disruption in the movie industry caused by the coronavirus epidemic. (Click  here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak here) Top Gun: Maverick, starring Tom Cruise, was originally scheduled to open in movie theaters worldwide on 24 June more than 30 years after the original movie launched his career as a global action star. The delay to 23 December was the latest in a series of blockbuster movies that have been delayed, including the new James Bond film Never Say Die and Disney’s Mulan, because of the coronavirus that has closed movie theaters in the United States and much of Europe and Asia. Top Gun: Maverick, picks up decades after the 1986 box-office hit and features actor Miles Teller as the son of Anthony Edwards’ pilot Goose, who is killed during a training exercise in the first movie.

Summer is typically Hollywood’s most lucrative time of year, when the studios unleash a barrage of sequels, superhero films and action movies. Last year, summer ticket sales accounted for $4.3 billion in US and Canadian theaters.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, Morbius and In the Heights have all been delayed or taken off the schedule, along with major spring releases including No Time to Die and Mulan. Some films have also been postponed because of halted post-production, leading to reshuffling of next year’s schedule, too. Work on Universal Pictures’ Minions: The Rise of Gru was halted when the French animation studio Illumination had to close its doors. Universal said Wednesday Minions will open in July 2021 instead of 3 July this year. Sing 2 was pushed from July 2021 to December next year.

Paramount also said Thursday that A Quiet Place Part II, which had been scheduled to hit theaters in March, will now be released 4 September. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run will aim for 31 July instead of 22 May. And the sci-fi war film The Tomorrow War, with Chris Pratt, is now unscheduled instead of releasing on Christmas. (With inputs from agencies)