'Downton Abbey: A New Era' Shifts Its Release Date To May

The gift of the 2021 lockdowns in the U.K. is that they cleared the schedules of every Downton Abbey actor, making it possible to bring back the entire ensemble for a second big-screen production much quicker than they might have otherwise managed. The first film spent a couple of years rounding up everyone involved in the original TV series and herding them like cats into one filming spot on the schedule. (And even then, there were a couple who didn't make the cut, like Cousin Rose.) Though the resulting 2019 film was a box office smash, everyone expected the same would be true of a sequel, so the quick turnaround in 2021 for a Christmas release of Downton Abbey: A New Era seemed almost too good to be true.

It was. Christmas was a little too ambitious, so Focus Features slid the movie down the calendar to early spring, a sensible decision in the days of low caseloads and few variants. But then December and the omicron variant arrived, and since then, the box office has been unkind to everything that doesn't have an entire Spider-Fam reunion. Though there's hope that things will turn around by winter's end, studios are getting nervous about February releases, and Focus Features has decided it will not take the risk and inside push back its current release calendar to be safe.

First to move is Academy-Award winner Graham Moore's directorial debut, a crime drama known as The Outfit, starring Oscar winner Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall). Initially slated for Feb. 25, it will move down a month to the Mar. 18 berth. Mar. 18, as fans will realize, was Downton Abbey: A New Era's release date. In response, it will also slide down the calendar, putting it firmly in the late spring, arriving first in the U.K. on Apr. 29 and the month later in the U.S. on May 20, 2022. Both films are expected to play well with older audiences, many of whom have been reluctant to return to theaters, especially with current concerns about COVID.