The Julia Roberts and George Clooney rom-com was set to premiere Friday, September 16 in the UK. The film will instead launch Tuesday September 20 in UK theaters “out of respect to the Royal Family” following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Universal issued a statement (via Deadline) that the delayed release was in honor of the monarchy. The new release date is the day after the queen’s funeral. Ol Parker directs “Ticket to Paradise.” “With the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, Universal, Working Title, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and director Ol Parker have all decided to delay the opening of ‘Ticket to Paradise’ in the UK until after the Queen’s funeral out of respect to the Royal Family and the people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” a statement read.
“Ticket to Paradise” is slated to open in North America October 21. The international rollout for the film began this past weekend with screenings in Spain and Brazil, followed by Germany, Australia, and the UK, along with France, Italy, Mexico and Korea in October. Japan will release the feature November 3.
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“Ticket to Paradise” stars Roberts and Clooney as a divorced couple who travel to Bali to stop their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) from getting married. Billie Lourd and Lucas Bravo also star in the comedy.
Lead star Roberts previously addressed why she stayed away from romantic comedies for more than 20 years before reading director Parker’s script for the film and said that “Ticket to Paradise” could have been a “disaster” if co-star Clooney didn’t sign on to play her onscreen ex-husband.
Two-time Oscar winner Clooney added that the film was “clearly written for Julia and I.”
“In fact, the characters’ names were originally Georgia and Julian,” Clooney said. “I hadn’t really done a romantic comedy since ‘One Fine Day’ [in 1996] — I haven’t succeeded like Julia has in that forum — but I read it and thought, ‘Well, if Jules is up for it, I think this could be fun.’”
Both Roberts and Clooney serve as executive producers.
“Ticket to Paradise” is not the only project to be briefly shelved due to Queen Elizabeth II’s passing. Netflix series “The Crown” has paused production. Creator Peter Morgan released a statement following the queen’s dead: “‘The Crown’ is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect,” Morgan wrote. “I expect we will stop filming out of respect too.”
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