**UPDATE: **According to a tweet from Universal, the film will hit US cinemas on October 14 next year. Which, given that the UK was expecting to see it roughly the same time back when the release date was April, means we should expect it the same month. Huzzah!
This is an example of a studio moving and shunting its release-dates for potential box-office reasons, rather, we suspect, than a display of lack of faith in the film in question. But Universal has temporarily removed The Thing prequel from its 2011 release schedule, to make way for the burning rubber of Fast 5.
The fifth entry in the Fast and Furious franchise (starring franchise veterans Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, and **Fast **newbie Dwayne Johnson) will now hit US screens on April 29, effectively meaning that Universal get to "start" the summer blockbuster season of 2011, sneaking out before Thor. At the time of writing, The Thing has no date at all.
The prequel to John Carpenter's remake is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen and written by Eric Heisserer (from a previous draft by Ronald D Moore), and stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the palaeontologist unearthing the shape-shifter's ship in the Antarctic ice. Advance word has been positive, but the bleak and moody The Thing really doesn't feel like a summer blockbuster. Are Universal looking at revealing it later in the year, perhaps closer to Hallowe'en?
More news as it arrives...