Movies

'A Quiet Place Part II' Release Date Moves Up To May

a quiet place 2 release date
By Hoai-Tran Bui/

A Quiet Place Part II was one of the first movies to have its theatrical release affected in real-time by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic — a splashy red carpet premiere was even held ahead of its March 2020 release before everything shut down shortly afterwards. Since then, Paramount has been bouncing the release date from month to month, finally settling it in September of this year. But, in a rare sight amid the pandemic, Paramount has actually pushed the A Quiet Place Part II release date up by a few months.Variety reports that Paramount Pictures has moved up the release date of A Quiet Place Part II from September 17, 2021 to May 28, 2021. The horror sequel takes the Memorial Day weekend slot recently vacated by Universal's F9, which moved to June, as well as Mark Wahlberg's action-thriller Infinite, which got pushed to September 24.

The new release date was confirmed by director John Krasinski, who wrote on his Twitter Thursday night, "They always say good things come to those who wait. Well... I think we've waited long enough."

Paramount's decision to move up A Quiet Place Part II's release has several motivating factors: The studio recently announced its intentions to shorten the theatrical window, giving upcoming titles like A Quiet Place Part II and Mission: Impossible 7 just 45 days in theaters before they head to the newly launched streaming service Paramount+ (which serves the second purpose of earning some buzz for the newly rebranded platform). This is a major decrease from the traditional 90-day window, but with the pandemic shattering the movie industry and keeping most theaters closed, studios have been forced to put their films online sooner than later.

Variety also notes that Paramount is optimistic that audiences will return to theaters soon, with the Biden administration's recent announcement that the U.S. is on track to have enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for "every adult American" by the end of May. Movie theaters in New York City, the second largest market in the country, are also reopening at limited capacity for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

Directed by Krasinski and starring Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place Part II follows "the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) [who] must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path." The sequel also stars Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou.

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