UK release of 'Cyrano' delayed by Universal due to COVID-19 surge

Joe Wright's musical drama 'Cyrano' has been pushed back by over a month in the UK, seemingly becoming the latest film casualty of the ongoing omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the feature, which Universal is handling internationally and stars Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr., was due for release on January 14 but, with just a week to go, has been now been delayed until February 25, with previews set for February 14 (Valentine's Day).

Given the late move, the publicity drive had already kicked off, with Dinklage appearing on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show on the BBC to promote the film.

The film joins Operation Mincemeat in the UK, which THR revealed in December was shifting from its January 14 slot to April 22. Both titles appear skewed towards an older demographic, which even before the emergence of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in late November had been much more cautious about returning to public events.

However, it should be noted that Universal, via Focus Features, is still going ahead with the U.K. release of Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast', another film that would fit into this category, on January 21.

'Cyrano' had a limited one-week LA run in December, an event also impacted by omicron with United Artists Releasing canceling the red-carpet premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum on December 15 "out of an abundance of caution given the changing COVID landscape."

As per the Hollywood Reporter, the latest news comes as the UK recorded almost 195,000 daily cases of COVID-19, up more than 11,700 from the previous week, and 334 daily deaths.

( With inputs from ANI )