Paramount Pictures has postponed the release of two sequels of its action spy franchise Mission: Impossible in response to the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Mission: Impossible will open on Nov 19, 2021 instead of July 23, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8 is now slated to open on Nov 4, 2022, instead of Aug 5, 2022, US entertainment news outlet Deadline Hollywood reported on Friday.

The pandemic is delivering blow after blow to the beleaguered US entertainment industry, as movie releases, film and TV shoots are being postponed or canceled across the country and internationally.

Paramount Pictures announced in February that the Hollywood studio had halted production on Tom Cruise's blockbuster Mission: Impossible 7 due to the infectious virus. The film, set to shoot in Venice, Italy, went dark when the entire country went into lockdown due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 there. Italy is one of the countries hit the hardest by COVID-19 in Europe.

The delay of Mission: Impossible sequels is a part of Paramount Pictures' release date shuffle. Chris Pratt's sci-fi movie The Tomorrow War, which moved from this year's Christmas to being undated for a bit, is now scheduled for July 23, 2021. The studio's distribution of animated movie Paw Patrol is dated for Aug 20, 2021, according to Deadline Hollywood.