Paramount Rescheduling Transformers: Age of Extinction in Some Countries to Avoid World Cup Clash

When the robot hero Optimus Prime returns to movie theaters in June, his toughest foes might not be other transformers but Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Paramount Pictures (VIAB) will release Transformers: Age of Extinction in the U.S., Asia, and parts of Europe smack in the middle of soccer’s World Cup, which runs from June 12 through July 13 in Brazil. The studio will delay the movie’s launch date in many soccer-crazed countries until after the tournament ends to avoid a dent in the box office.

The World Cup, the second-biggest global sporting event after the Olympics, coincides with the peak of the movie industry’s big-budget summer season. “The World Cup will continue to pose more and more of an issue,” says Anthony Marcoly, president of international distribution at Paramount, which is owned by Viacom.