Today was the day for several release date announcements and we’ll begin with Roland Emmerich’s Shakespeare conspiracy theory feature, Anonymous which moved from September 30 to October 28. The film was previously set to open opposite 50/50, Dream House and What’s Your Number?, but will instead now take on Dibbuk Box, In Time and Like Crazy at the end of September.
Next, Columbia also moved the George Clooney-directed The Ides of March to one week earlier from October 14 to October 7. The film stars Clooney alongside Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella and Jeffrey Wright and will now open opposite Real Steal and Martha Marcy May Marlene after moving away from the heavy October 14 which will see the release of Footloose, The Thing and The Three Musketeers. Yikes.
August 26 will now see the release of Rowan Joffe’s Brighton Rock, a film I loathed when I saw it in Toronto last year, but IFC will see if they can get a few people in theaters to see the adaptation of Graham Greene’s classic novel.
Brighton Rock is actually taking the place of another IFC release on August 26 as the studio has moved the Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier thriller Love Crime from that date to September 2 where it will open opposite Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D.
While October 28 lost Anonymous, it did gain festival favorite Tucker and Dale vs. Evil as Magnet Releasing finally acquired the much loved horror comedy starring Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk as a couple of unlucky hillbillies are thought to be serial killers. The film will debut On Demand prior to its theatrical release, however, on August 26.
The last update for 2011 is the action-thriller Killer Elite from Open Road Films. The film, which stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, will hit theaters on September 23. The film will release the same day as Twilight star, Taylor Lautner’s Bourne-esque actioner Abduction and Bennett Miller’s Moneyball starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Kathryn Morris and Chris Pratt.
Now we move to 2012 as FilmDistrict has shuffled around their schedule a little, beginning with Lockout, a near-future thriller previously scheduled for February 24, 2012 that will now release on April 13. The film follows a falsely convicted ex-government agent (Guy Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.
FilmDistrict also set a release date for their Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel soccer rom-com Playing the Field, which will release on March 9, 2012. The film is directed by Seven Pounds and Pursuit of Happyness helmer Gabriele Muccino and will face off against Disney’s John Carter and James McTeigue’s Edgar Allan Poe mystery The Raven.
Later in the year, FilmDistrict, teaming with TriStar, will release Looper on September 28. The sci-fi film serves as Brick director Rian Johnson’s follow-up to The Brothers Bloom and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels and Piper Perabo.
And last, but not least, Disney has set a December 21, 2012 release date for Gore Verbinski’s Lone Ranger featuring The Social Network star Armie Hammer in the title role and Johnny Depp set to play his sidekick Tonto. The film will open opposite Ang Li’s Life of Pi and Phillip Noyce’s Hunter Killer.
As if that wasn’t enough, producer JoAnne Sellar told the Vallejo Times-Herald (via The Playlist) Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master “is expected to open in late 2012.”
Thanks goes to Box Office Mojo for most of these updates.
