The Minions sequel Minions: The Rise Of Gru has officially been postponed by Universal. The reason is the impact of the spreading coronavirus which is affecting all of us around the world. The film’s release was set for the summer but the film will be delayed for two reasons – one being that most cinemas in the key territories are currently closed, and that Illumination Entertainment, who are behind the Minions and Despicable Me movies, have had to close their studios in France.
Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination released a statement saying:
“In response to the severity of the situation in France, we are temporarily closing our Illumination Mac Guff studio in Paris. With this decision, we are abiding by the French Government’s guidelines and doing everything possible to slow the spread of the virus as we care for our artists and their families.”
“This means we will be unable to finish ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ in time for our planned global releases in late June and early July. While we all grapple with the enormity of this crisis, we must put the safety and protection of our employees above all. We look forward to finding a new release date for the return of Gru and the Minions.”
Sad, but not surprising news as this is just one of the many movies to have been delayed due to the impact of the virus.
We’ll update with more as it comes in.