Next 'Fast & Furious' movie release delayed by a month until June

Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures has delayed the global debut of the Fast & Furious movie F9 by one month until June 25, the company said on Thursday, the latest shift by Hollywood studios trying to gauge when moviegoers will return to theatres.

The move signalled that Universal is confident of a summer rebound as coronavirus vaccines become more widely available in the United States and Canada, the world's largest film market. Cinemas in New York City, the second-largest moviegoing region in the United States, are scheduled to start reopening on Friday.

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Theatre operators including AMC Entertainment, Cineworld Plc and Cinemark Holdings Inc are hoping they will have blockbusters movies to show this summer, which is typically their most lucrative season.

The next big-budget action movie on the schedule, Walt Disney Co's Marvel movie Black Widow, is currently set to hit theatres on May 7.

After moving F9 to late June, Universal postponed the release of animated movie Minions: The Rise of Gru from early July 2021 until July 2022.