The first film reboot of the classic Angela Lansbury series was originally set to open one week out from “Avengers: Secret Wars” and “LOTR: The Hunt for Gollum.”

Jamie Lee Curtis’ *Murder, She Wrote *movie delayed until 2028, avoids clash with Gollum and the Avengers

The first film reboot of the classic Angela Lansbury series was originally set to open one week out from "Avengers: Secret Wars" and "LOTR: The Hunt for Gollum."

By Staff Author

April 24, 2026 12:14 a.m. ET

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Jamie Lee Curtis, Gollum, and Robert Downey Jr. Credit:

Steve Jennings/Getty; Warner Bros.; Zade Rosenthal

- Universal Pictures is delaying Jamie Lee Curtis' *Murder, She Wrote *movie from Dec. 22, 2027, to Feb. 4, 2028.

- The film was originally set to open just one week after the simultaneous premieres of *Avengers: Secret Wars*, *The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum*, and *The Housemaid's Secret*.

- The new *Murder, She Wrote *is the first film treatment of the classic series originally starring Angela Lansbury that will open in theaters.

Who would win in a fight — a knife-wielding nanny and her maniacal boss, Gollum, the entire Avengers team, or an elderly lady detective?

Universal Pictures, which is producing a Jamie Lee Curtis-led, big-screen reboot of the classic procedural *Murder, She Wrote*, isn't going to stick around to find out.

The studio gave the first-ever movie treatment of *Murder, She Wrote *(at least one designed for theaters) a Dec. 22, 2027, release date back in March. But on Thursday, Universal announced that it is pushing the film off the crowded holiday block back to Feb. 4, 2028, per *Variety**.*

Angela Lansbury stars as Jessica Fletcher on crime drama series 'Murder, She Wrote' (1990). CBS via Getty

* *has reached out to representatives for Universal Pictures for comment.

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The studio didn't disclose its reasons for the movie, but one need only look at the December 2027 release calendar to take an educated guess.

There's going to be an epic bloodbath for box office primary just one week before *Murder, She Wrote*'s original release date. On Dec. 17, 2027, three major franchise sequels are set to open at once: *Avengers: Secret Wars*, *Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum*; and *The Housemaid's Secret*.

'The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum' officially recasts Aragorn

Jamie Lee Curtis confirms she'll star in 'Murder, She Wrote' movie: 'Oh, it's happening'

Back in the late 2010s, an *Avengers *movie meant serious business at the box office, but studio Marvel has considerably slowed the pace of its MCU release schedule. At the same time, most of the studio's lowest performing films have been released in the past handful of years, meaning projections for *Secret Wars** *aren't entirely clear.

*The Hunt for Gollum*, meanwhile, has generated a considerable amount of buzz, being the first new live-action Middle-earth film to release in over a decade, and *The Housemaid* did gangbusters at the box office last year, scoring nearly $400 million worldwide on an estimated $35 million budget.

*Gollum *is directed by and will star Andy Serkis in the title role, alongside Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, both reprising their roles from Peter Jackson's film trilogy, and Kate Winslet. Sydney Sweeney returns for *The Housemaid's Secret*, this time with Kirsten Dunst, as the original's costar Amanda Seyfried is not currently attached.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Crime”