‘Rocketman’: Elton John Biopic Moves Back Two Weeks
UPDATED, 3:18 PM: Paramount said today that Rocketman now will launch on May 31, two weeks later than originally scheduled. In its new slot, the Elton John biopic starring Taron Egerton will go up against Warner Bros. Godzilla: King of the Monsters and an Untitled Blumhouse Project from Universal.
PREVIOUSLY, May 23: Paramount has just set the opening date for the Dexter Fletcher-directed Elton John biopic Rocketman for May 17, 2019. The pic stars Taron Egerton as the iconic singer with Matthew Vaughn producing.
Fletcher replaced Bryan Singer on Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Rocketman, written by Lee Hall, follows John’s rise from being a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music to becoming a breakout rock legend with his 1972 album Honky Chateau and its mega-selling 1973 follow-up Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The pic will open up against Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 3, Warner Bros. The Sun Is Also a Star and Universal/Amblin’s A Dog’s Journey.
In addition, the Melrose lot has undated Transformers 7 from its previous date of June 28, 2019. In its place, Paramount will release the Tiffany Haddish comedy Limited Partners on that date. Paramount had hatched a writers room led by Akiva Goldsman to hammer out future iterations of Transformers movies. The spinoff Bumblebee, whose clips were well received at CinemaCon, comes out on Dececmber 21 directed by Travis Knight. Michael Bay has hinted that Transformers: The Last Knight was his final stint in the director’s chair for a Transformers movie. Transformers 7 was put in as a placeholder on the calendar years ago, and the studio is rebooting the entire franchise in the direction of Bumblebee.
June 28 is the weekend leading into Independence Day week, and right now there’s just Universal’s Chris Pratt movie Cowboy Ninja Viking and a placeholder for an Entertainment Studios movie.
The reboot of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is moving up from April 19, 2019, to April 5. The pic will be up against New Line/DC’s Shazam! and Sony’s Tom Hanks pic Greyhound.