Paramount and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions have moved back the science-fiction thriller “God Particle” eight months to Oct. 27, 2017, and renamed it “2017 Cloverfield Movie.”

Paramount said Thursday that the Abrams-produced “2017 Cloverfield Movie” would be released in Imax. The story, set in the near future, centers on a team of astronauts on a space station making a terrifying discovery that challenges all they know about the fabric of reality, as they desperately fight for their survival.

Paramount and Abrams had announced last February that “God Particle” would be released on Feb. 24, 2017. The studio said Thursday that “God Particle” had been “removed” from the schedule.

Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah is directing and began shooting in June. David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl and Chris O’Dowd are starring.

The studio and Bad Robot have been developing the project since 2012 but Thursday marked the first time that Paramount has said it would be part of the Cloverfield universe, launched in 2008 with the secrecy-shrouded found-footage monster movie “Cloverfield.”

Paramount-based Abrams was also a producer on this year’s “10 Cloverfield Lane,” which opened in March with Dan Trachtenberg directing. Abrams said “10 Cloverfield Lane” was a “spiritual successor” to the original “Cloverfield.”

“10 Cloverfield Lane” starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a woman who wakes up in an underground bunker after a car crash with two men who insist that the surface of the Earth has become uninhabitable. The movie was one of the few Paramount films this year to perform well, with a worldwide gross of more than $100 million on an $8 million budget.

“2017 Cloverfield Movie” will open against Lionsgate’s eighth “Saw” movie.

Paramount-based Abrams produces the “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek’ franchises for the studio. He also produced and directed the Disney smash “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”