Release Date Madness: Ender's Game, Argo, Gangster Sqaud, and The Dictator All Play Release Date Shuffle

*First up, Ender's Game.  The Gavin Hood directed adaptation of the very popular sci-fi novel (and my personal favorite book) was originally set to hit theaters on March 15, 2013.  But now Summit, a.k.a 'The Studio That Brought You Twilight and Some Other Movies You Really Don't Care About, But Mostly Twilight!' have pushed the film back about 8 months for a November 1, 2013 release.  This is a prime spot in the Holiday season, and under any other circumstance, this move will be fine.  But with Catching Fire set a few weeks after, I hope it won't affect the film's box office potential.  If anything, it seems Summit is setting this up to be their next big franchise, which is why they're fitting it into their typical Twilight zone (see what I did there?).  I mean, that studio needs SOMETHING after Twilight ends this year!  Maybe Ender's Game will be just that (although it probably won't, considering the type of series Ender's Game is).  Still, a studio can dream!  ComingSoon got the exclusive on this one.

*Moving on, let's talk The Dictator.  Sacha Baron Cohen's new film in which he plays an outlandish stereotype has been moved up, but only by a little bit.  Instead of its previous date of May 11, Paramount has moved the film to the far safer May 16, which gives the film a much safer comfort zone from the hit that will surely be Tim Burton's Dark Shadows.  Thanks to Deadline for the tip.

*Finally, let's talk about two of Warner Bros. biggest Oscar films of 2012; Ben Affleck's Argo, and Ruben Fleischer's Gangster Squad.  Variety reports that WB has moved the release date of Argo to October 12, right in the midst of Oscar season, quite an improvement from its dreary September release it had before.  This would be all fine and dandy if it wasn't for one thing...Argo has taken the release date from Gangster Squad.  Which means now Gangster Squad doesn't have a release date.  This wouldn't be a problem if WB wasn't already so packed with films in the last quarter, but between The Great Gatsby, Gravity, and The Hobbit, there seems to be no room for Gangster Sqaud.  And well Warner Bros. assures us Gangster Squad will still hit sometime in 2012...it's the matter of when that's up in the air right now.

-Matthew