Fans of the Fast and Furious films will have to wait a bit longer to attend the next “family” reunion, because Universal Pictures has announced that they’ve moved the long awaited sequel’s release date back a month from May to June of this year. And if you (or more likely, your child or younger sibling) are an acolyte of the Minions franchise, that wait will be even longer. Minions: The Rise of Gru has been bumped out of this year altogether and kicked onto the 2022 release calendar.

F9 Release Date

F9 will now drift into theaters on June 25, 2021, which is a little less than one month later than its previous date of May 28, 2021. Of course, this was one of the biggest movies that was set to premiere last year, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Universal was one of the first studios to vacate 2020 entirely, and it was clearly a smart decision – while other movies puttered around and delayed their projects in fits and starts, Universal bumped F9 an entire year from the start. The studio dug in its feet strong and refused to release it digitally because they know a new Fast and Furious film has the potential to pull in a billion dollars worldwide, so this newly slated release will essentially mark the start of the studio’s unofficial “welcome back to theaters!” campaign. Whether or not enough people will be vaccinated and ready to return to theaters in full force in late June remains to be seen, but things are certainly looking better than they have been in a long time on that front.

Minions: The Rise of Gru Release Date

Meanwhile, Illumination Entertainment’s Minions: The Rise of Gru will now arrive in theaters on July 1, 2022, moving all the way back from July 2 of this year. That is a massive delay, but insiders told THR that it was so the studio could “claim a high-profile date” on next year’s calendar. While vaccine projections indicate there will be enough for every American adult by the end of May, it will likely be much longer before the distribution is able to keep up with that supply – and longer still before every child in the country is able to be vaccinated. Universal is once again playing the long game here, and considering the Minions movies have been huge box office successes, I suspect they’ll be pleased with this decision in 2022.

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