Sony has pushed the worldwide release date of the family film “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” to August 7 over fears of the coronavirus after it was originally slated to start rolling out abroad at the end of this month, an individual with knowledge of the shift told TheWrap.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sony shifted the European release date for the film, and the change to the domestic release date, originally meant for April 3, was expected to follow.
The release date change is the second shift for a wide release film after Eon, MGM and Universal moved the 25th James Bond film from April to a release in November in order to counter the effect coronavirus is having on worldwide markets. Cinemas across China have remained closed for weeks, and Italy recently announced it would do the same.
“Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” is a live-action, CGI-hybrid family film with James Corden voicing Beatrix Potter’s iconic rabbit character, and it’s a follow-up to the 2018 movie “Peter Rabbit.” That film made $351.2 million worldwide, with just about two-thirds of that total coming internationally. The hope with the sequel is that the film would open in most international markets first. But piracy risks complicate things, and Universal recently moved “Trolls World Tour” into the Easter holiday after “No Time To Die” vacated the slot, so the shift in the U.S. makes sense for the studio.
“Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” co-stars Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson and features the voice work of Margot Robbie and Elizabeth Debicki.
THR first reported the news of the international release date shift.