Last week, Paramount pulled two movies from its release schedule due to coronavirus concerns: The Lovebirds and Blue Story. Now, we at least know what’s happening with one of them. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Lovebirds will now stream on Netflix. Its original release date was April 3rd. Paramount also recently delayed the release of A Quiet Place Part II over concerns of the fast-spreading virus.
The comedy stars Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae as a couple on the verge of breaking up. But when they witness a murder and are seen fleeing the crime scene, they go on a wacky adventure to clear their names. Nanjiani previously starred in HBO’s Silicon Valley and The Big Sick. He earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination with his wife, Emily Gordon, for the latter. He will also appear in Marvel’s upcoming Eternals. Rae co-created and stars in HBO’s Insecure. Though she also starred in The Hate U Give and The Photograph.
With the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen many corners of the entertainment world effected. In the world of film, Regal and AMC closed all theaters to help contain the spread of the virus. Universal made The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and Emma available digitally yesterday after only being in theaters for a short time. Many other release dates for movies like Fast & Furious 9 and Peter Rabbit 2 have been pushed back. But Paramount is the first studio to move a theatrical release to a streaming platform.
However, this isn’t the first Paramount/Netflix partnership. The studio previously released The Cloverfield Paradox on the platform instead of theaters. And while it didn’t exactly garner positive reviews, it did gain a lot of views due to its genius marketing stunt. Hopefully, this means those looking forward to The Lovebirds will still be able to enjoy it. There’s no release date on Netflix as of right now but expect news very soon.
