With just a month and a half until its November 13 release date, Paramount Pictures has pushed its upcoming thriller Rings, a sequel to The Ring, to 2016. Variety reports that the movie will likely open sometime in the first quarter of 2016, although a specific release date was not given at this time. The move comes just weeks after the studio slotted release dates for potential Oscar candidates The Big Short, opening in wide release on December 11, and Anomalisa, which was given an awards-qualifying run in limited release on December 30.

Rings was originally scheduled to open against Warner Bros.' true story drama The 33, Universal Pictures' By the Sea, CBS Films' Love the Coopers and Clarius Entertainment's My All American. Aside from that competitive opening weekend, the horror movie would also have to contend with a number of highly-anticipated movies in the weeks that followed, such as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 on November 20 and Creed, The Good Dinosaur, The Night Before and Victor Frankenstein on November 25, just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Rings just started shooting back in March, with director F. Javier Gutiérrez confirming that the sequel takes place 13 years after the original thriller, The Ring. The story centers on Holt (Alex Roe), who suddenly starts to become distant to his girlfriend Julia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) after watching a bizarre videotape. The original film The Ring, which starred Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson and Brian Cox, centered on a tape that causes each person who watches it to die seven days later.

The supporting cast of Rings is rounded out by Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Laura Wiggins, Zach Roerig, Andrea Powell, Brandon Larracuente, Dave Blamy and Surely Alvelo. Shortly after filming started, a rumor surfaced that the character Aidan Keller, played by David Dorfman in The Ring and The Ring Two, will appear as an adult, but that report was never confirmed, and it isn't known if David Dorfman is coming back to reprise his role.

F. Javier Gutiérrez (Before the Fall) is directing from a script by David Loucka (House at the End of the Street), Jacob Aaron Estes (Mean Creek) and Akiva Goldsman (Star Trek Into Darkness). We'll keep you posted as soon as Paramount announces a new release date for Rings. Were you looking forward to seeing this sequel in just a few short months? Or can you wait until the new year?