Um...what kind of release date is that for Lovley Bones? Isn't this supposed to be like an award-contender? Didn't Paramount learn from Zodiac? Don't release an award-contender film in March. It doesn't do well. God, studios sometimes are just so stupid when making release schedules.

I guess that's a good release for G.I. Joe. I really don't think the film will do well. It's not a Transforemrs.

Marley and Me would have sounded like a good film...if Owen Wilson didn't try to commit suicide. I don't know if his image will be better by the time this comes out even a year from now.

Erin Brovocih also was released when Julia Roberts when at her upmost prime.

Lovley Bones has no star power to give it BO help. It will end up being another Zodiac if it gets released there.

Erin Brovocih also was released when Julia Roberts when at her upmost prime.

Lovley Bones has no star power to give it BO help. It will end up being another Zodiac if it gets released there.

Marky Mark in a drama like this is no draw. And as you said, Shooter showed that the Marky Mark draw isn't consistent.

March is really not a good place for a film like this anymore. I don't know why you try to do something like this. It's too big of a risk.

It's release date may deal with logisitics. Maybe they realize they won't be able to get it out before December 2008

20th Century Fox Expands 2009 Slate

20th Century Fox has been busy nailing down its 2009 slate, and it sounds like a block of sure things. (Then again, Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming and I write about what went incredibly well and horribly wrong.)

Dates for Jim Cameron's Avatar, Night Of the Museum 2 and Ice Age 3 are now set, joining X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That's four major 2009 tentpoles for Fox.

Mega-hit Night At The Museum 2 is subtitled, Escape From The Smithsonian (not hard to figure oyt that plot, eh?) and again stars Ben Stiller directed by Shawn Levy. The sequel to the pic that earned $575 million worldwide debuts on May 22, 2009 during Memorial Day weekend, which was when Avatar was supposed to open. But now Fox has given Cameron a later release date "just in case" the technology becomes even more time-consuming than expected. So now Avatar fittingly opens on Titanic's old release date, December 18th. Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation reteam for Ice Age 3 to be produced in 3D same as Avatar and released July 1st. X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman goes out May 1st.

I love the upbeat exec quotes that usually accompany these kinds of announces. "Commented Hutch Parker, Vice Chairman of 20th Century Fox Film Group: 'This is a win-win for us. Avatar goes to the Titanic date in December, which was obviously auspicious for Jim and us, and by the time of release there will be more worldwide 3D screens available. With Ice Age 3 now being made in 3D, its release in the summer will help further accelerate those 3D screens. Night At The Museum 2 is exactly the kind of all audience franchise that performs big on Memorial Day weekend. Wolverine has the summer kick-off date and Ice Age 3 has July 4th, so even though 2009 is a long way away, we feel well set for four of the best launch dates of the year.' ”

"Addressing the new Avatar date, Parker said: 'The processes for the new photorealistic production technology invented by Jim’s team along with the digital effects by Weta are state-of-the-art and groundbreaking. Making this change more than two years out, allows Weta to achieve this unparalleled cinematic feat with the most efficient completion of the digital effects. This will also provide the added benefit of a larger installed base of 3D theatres in the U.S. and particularly around the world by the time of release.' ”

(And, yes, I know Jurassic Park 2 was a Uni film, not Fox.)

Fox better hope Avatar makes it in time. NATM2 in May really wouldn't do well. That film made all of its money becaues of the holiday. No holiday = sub-200m total for sure.

Substantially rearranging its 2009 tentpole sked, 20th Century Fox will release "Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian" on May 22 and move back James Cameron's 3-D "Avatar" from the Memorial Day frame to Dec. 18, giving the helmer more time for post-production.

News reps the first official word that Fox is pushing ahead with a sequel to box office hit "Night at the Museum," directed by Sean Levy and starring Ben Stiller, who will reteam on "Smithsonian." Sequel will be the first major Hollywood movie shot at the museum complex in Washington, D.C.

Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios also announced that Fox has decided to produce "Ice Age 3" in digital 3-D. Toon was already set for release on July 1, 2009. Move signals studio's confidence in the power of modern-day 3-D.

Fox had previously announced it will kick off summer 2009 with the release of Hugh Jackman starrer "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" on May 1.

In summing up the various changes, Fox Film Group vice chair Hutch Parker said, "This is a win-win for us."

Screenplay for "Smithsonian" was penned by "Night at the Museum" scribes Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, with a rewrite by Scott Frank. Levy will produce through his 21 Laps Entertainment, alongside 1492 Prods.' Chris Columbus.

Additional casting for "Smithsonian" will be announced in the coming weeks, with some actors from the first film expected to return. In bringing the Smithsonian museum to life, sequel also will introduce historical figures to the franchise, including Amelia Earhart, whom Reese Witherspoon has been approached to play.

"Night at the Museum," released last Christmas, grossed $252 million domestically and $323 million more overseas.

"Avatar," announced earlier this year, will now open on the same weekend that Cameron's "Titanic" did in 1997. The live-action/CGI hybrid is Cameron's first feature since "Titanic," which, after a decade, remains the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office.

So far, no other films are dated for release on Dec. 18, 2009.

Pushing back the release of "Avatar" from May to December allows both more time to work on the effects and that much more time for additional theaters to install 3-D screens both here and abroad.

With the extra months, Cameron and Peter Jackson's Weta Digital will continue working on the groundbreaking technology invented by Cameron's team and Weta for the film.

"Making this change more than two years out allows Weta to achieve this unparalleled cinematic feat with the most efficient completion of the digital effects," Parker said.

Fox stressed that Cameron will soon complete live-action principal photography in New Zealand, on schedule. During its production, "Titanic" hit major delays.

Cameron and producing partner Jon Landau are producing "Avatar" through Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. Cameron also penned the script.

Both "Avatar" and "Ice Age" will be released in conventional 35mm formats as well for smaller markets without 3-D screens.

Parker said producing "Ice Age 3" in digital 3-D still provides incentive for exhibs to install as many 3-D screens as they can by summer 2009.

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" director Carlos Saldanha, will direct "Ice Age 3." Voice talent Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah and Denis Leary are back onboard. Pic is being produced by Lori Forte and John Donkin from a script by Michael Berg and Peter Ackerman.

Original decision to open "Avatar" on May 22, 2009, prompted Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation to move 3-D toon "Monsters vs. Aliens" from May 15 to March 27, 2009, out of concern that there wouldn't be enough screens to handle two such films that close together

Variety confirms it now.

Btw superb news is that AVATAR will release in both regular format as wel as 3d format.