Between our report from the set and the new footage shown off at New York Comic Con, we were getting really excited about The Thing, Universal's prequel for the 1982 John Carpenter classic. Unfortunately it seems the studio is a little less gung ho. According to the latest info at Box Office Mojo, Universal has pushed the film from its planned release date of April 29 next year, with no replacement date yet scheduled.

In its place they've scheduled Fast Five, the latest in the Fast and the Furious franchise that had originally been scheduled for a June 10 release date, opposite J.J. Abrams' Super 8. It's hard to read this as anything but bad news for both films-- The Thing clearly needed some kind of work, whether in effects or reshoots or more time to market it properly, and Fast Five is likely not strong enough to hold up in the competitive summer market (its predecessor, Fast and Furious, made over $150 million with an April release date, so this slot makes far more sense.)

It's totally unfair to give up hope for The Thing based on a simple release date switch, especially since Universal has previously shown so much faith in it-- everyone who wrote off Shutter Island when Paramount moved it from an October to February release felt pretty foolish when the movie turned out great. So horror fans willing to see this one through, stay strong-- if the movie is any good, it'll be good no matter what month it's released.