Not much has been heard about Universal’s much talked about prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror classic The Thing, itself a remake of 1951’s Howard Hawks-produced The Thing from Another World, since it was bumped from its original Spring release date to make way for Fast Five. There hasn’t even been an official trailer released yet outside of a teaser that screened at conventions last year (which you can watch below; also, here’s our footage description and panel coverage from the 2010 New York Comic-Con). On top of all this, the studio also decided to name the prequel The Thing as well, because they don’t want to create any confusion apparently.

Hoping to stave off the cloud of doom that hangs over this new Thing, Universal has released the first official poster and it looks….interesting. (Check it out here below.) In fact, the poster definitely looks like one for a Thing movie so I guess the studio did their job. It’s a simple yet creepy piece with the logo (strongly reminiscent of the 1982 film) taking up most of the poster space and a mysterious individual inside the logo sprouting some strange looking appendages on their left hand, which brings to mind the fate of one of the characters from the Carpenter film.

Universal Pictures has decided to make some changes to its upcoming release schedule that may lead to some fans to become a little bit concerned.

The studio’s prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic of the same name, The Thing, had been scheduled for release on April 29, 2011. Now it’s being reported that Universal has decided to pull The Thing from said release date and replace it with Fast Five, the fifth movie in the Fast and the Furious franchise. The Thing was not given another release date.

And while this could have those excited to see the movie a little worried as to what’s going on, the studio simply said that they made the move because The Thing is not yet ready, and that they’re very high on Fast Five.

So is the movie really just not ready, or is there troubles looming over the production of the film? Only time will tell.