Universal Pictures announced today a slew of date changes for its 2010 slate, moves that should help the industry in its heroic quest to meet the grosses from the record 2009 year. The studio is moving its third film in the Meet the Parents franchise Little Fockers out of the summer and into the holiday season, but will replace it with the Matt Damon-Emily Blunt film The Adjustment Bureau. Also, Universal now plans to release the Michael Cera comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on August 13.
The moves make a lot of sense. The last two Bourne movies (Supremacy and Ultimatum) were both released in the summer and went on to make $176 million and $227 respectively. Adjustment Bureau, from Bourne screenwriter George Nolfi, is a thriller based on a story by Philip K Dick. While the storyline is compelling: Damon plays a rising politician who risks his future to be with the only woman he’s ever loved, the material does not have the kind of literary heat that Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series did. Still, if well executed it could be a hit for the summer. It will bow on July 30, opposite Warner Bros. animated family film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
As for Fockers, the film has wrapped, but any additional prep time the studio can secure for a movie with a cast including such big names as Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Robert De Niro has got to be a relief. Also, moving a big tent pole into the holiday season is a smart move considering industry watchers have been concerned that the 2010 Christmas season didn’t yet include any big meaty movies other than Tron: The Legacy. Both Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004) opened in the holiday season and earned $166 million and $279 million, respectively. Now we just have to hope the movies are good.
Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com
I like to pick my ear and smell the wax on my fingers.
Please marry me Weird Guy.
I accept. As long as I can smell your earwax on my finger.
Scott Pilgrim!!!! can’t wait.
Meet the Parents opened the first week of October….that’s a stretch to call it the holiday season.
Not if you consider Columbus Day a holiday.
Natch.
There is no way Little Fockers is going to be good.
crickets chirping
I loved both movies! Meet The Fockers was as good if not better than Meet The Parents IMO. I really hope that “Little Fockers” lives up to the previous 2 films
I can’t wait!
the link says meet the fockers is moved back. little fockers was pushed back.
“Meet The Fockers”???? Didn’t that film open several years ago? Don’t you mean LITTLE FOCKERS?
Ugh. Another “Fockers” movie. They are so bad.
I loved Meet The Parents. Thought it was hilarious. But when Meet The Fockers came out, went to see it on opening weekend, and it was the first time I actually walked out of a movie halfway through it. Was just so unfunny! Think I chuckled once, in 40 minutes.
you did not walk out quit lying
I did. I eventually waited til it came to DVD, and when I watched it then, I still didnt think much of it.
if you walked out of it the first time, because you hated then why would you spend more money to rent it?
Well, tell me…
I think you liked it and dont want to admit it. Trying to play the tough person image.
i can see right through you.
If I wanted to see animals do it, I’ll save my $10, and watch the discovery channel.
Little Fockers – who cares? That franchise already jumped the shark.
jumped the shark……ugh…so sick of people using that term for EVERYTHING!
I’m sorry, did anyone else notice there is a movie coming out called “The Revenge of Kitty Galore”?? WTF?
yeah.this movie looks gay
It’s Tron: Legacy. Stop calling it Tron: THE Legacy.