Fast Five Release Date Shuffle Leaves The Thing Homeless

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Universal has bumped the upcoming prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing from its April 29, 2011 release date. A studio spokeswoman told The Los Angeles Times that the film was not yet ready. The prequel, also called The Thing, is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and stars Joel Edgerson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

To fill the now vacant release date, Universal has moved the upcoming fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise up from its June 10, 2011 release date. Fast Five, starring Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, will now be released April 29, 2011.

A new release date hasn’t yet been announced for The Thing. While I hope the movie will be released sooner than later, I’m also OK with the idea of Universal and its filmmaking team taking their time to get the movie right rather than releasing a half-cooked film in April.

Robert Saucedo is an avid movie watcher with seriously poor sleeping habits. The Mikey from Life cereal of film fans, Robert will watch just about anything — good, bad or ugly. He has written about film for newspapers, radio and online for the last 10 years. This has taken a toll on his sanity — of that you can be sure. Follow him on Twitter at @robsaucedo2500.