Update!

Swine Flu Takes Out Trek, Terminator, Tom Hanks

Star Trek isn't boldly going anywhere in Mexico for the time being—and neither are any of its blockbuster competitors

By Josh Grossberg Apr 30, 2009 10:40 PMTags
Star Trek, Zachery QuintoParamount Pictures

Star Trek isn't boldly going anywhere in Mexico for the time being—and neither are any of its would-be summer blockbuster brethren.

Paramount Pictures has temporarily shelved the sci-fi prequel's May 8 release in Mexico due to the swine flu outbreak that has put the country on high alert and fueled worldwide fears of a pandemic.

No word yet when J.J. Abrams' big-screen reboot of the Trek franchise will beam its way into Mexican theaters. Paramount has yet to announce an alternate date.

But Captain Kirk and crew aren't the only fabled characters felled by the bug.

Earlier this week, 20th Century Fox scrapped yesterday's scheduled premiere of Hugh Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine over similar concerns and announced it would indefinitely postpone the film's May 14 opening after the Mexican government banned all public gatherings and canceled a slew of public events in hopes of preventing H1N1's spread.

Other studios are following suit with their respective slates south of the border.

Sony Pictures has decided to delay the unspooling of its much-anticipated Tom Hanks-fronted Da Vinci Code follow-up, Angels & Demons, from May 15 to June 12, and push back its release of Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale, from June 5 to July 31.

"We have been closely monitoring the situation in Mexico all week," Sony rep Steve Elzer tells E! News.

"We continue to be extremely concerned about this health crisis and its impact on the people who live there, and especially those who have been affected by the flu."

(Originally published April 30, 2009, at 1:01 p.m. PT)

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