Universal’s Release Schedule: Warcraft, Pacific Rim 2 & more are pushed back

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Yesterday saw the announcement that a FAST AND FURIOUS 8 would be coming in 2 years' time on April 14, 2017. This came straight from the mouth of the Diesel himself and surprised absolutely no one. Rather, it was a welcome confirmation of what fans would love to see, despite the passing of Paul Walker. Soon after that announcement was the shifting of several dates. Given the FAST AND FURIOUS claim in the month of April, there was no doubt that PACIFIC RIM 2's original release date would be changed. Well, PACIFIC RIM 2 wasn't the only shift, as WARCRAFT, THE MUMMY, and the UNTITLED UNIVERSAL MONSTER FRANCHISE FILM have all taken a hit. You can check out Universal's updated release schedule below.

• WARCRAFT – Bumped from March 11, 2016, to June 10, 2016.
• MENA – January 6, 2017.
• FIFTY SHADES DARKER – February 10, 2017.
• THE MUMMY – Bumped from June 24, 2016, to March 24, 2017.
• FAST AND FURIOUS 8 – April 14, 2017.
• PACIFIC RIM 2 – Bumped from April 7, 2017, to August 4, 2017.
• FIFTY SHADES FREED – February 9, 2018.
• UNTITLED UNIVERSAL MONSTER FRANCHISE FILM – Bumped from April 21, 2017, to March 30, 2018.

I'm not surprised that WARCRAFT was pushed further away from BATMAN V SUPERMAN's March 25th release, but I am shocked to see it catapulted into the busy summer movie season. I'd like to think that this bodes well for Duncan Jones' finished product, which has been in post for almost a year now!

As for PACIFIC RIM 2, well, I loved the first film and it didn't exactly bring in GODZILLA numbers. I'm hoping the marketing will be a little better this time around, and that plenty of folks have now finally gotten a chance to experience the great, popcorn flick the first was, in order to make it to theaters for the second. Guillermo del Toro doesn't do sequels to his films often, and the last time he did (HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY), it improved upon the first in almost every way. I can't wait!