Friday
29Aug2008
'Australia' Latest Fall Movie to Switch Opening Date
Friday, August 29, 2008 at 12:47AM 
It's a big ol' round of musical chairs this fall movie
season. It began, technically, months ago, when J.J. Abrams decided to move
Star Trek out of the Christmas slot to May 2009. That was followed a couple
of weeks ago by the biggest news: Harry Potter vacating the week before
Thanksgiving and moving to the middle of July.
That move left an opening for an opportunistic
Twilight on November 21st, and 007 took advantage of Potter's absence
as well, moving from November 7th to November 14th, which was the same weekend
Baz Luhrmann's ambitious
Australia was hitting theaters. Until now.
Fox has announced it will move Australia back 12 days,
pushing the epic to the day before Thanksgiving (November 26th). Fox domestic
distribution president Bruce Snyder said that "recent shifts in the release
dates of other pictures created an opportunity for us." More to the point, it
created an opportunity away from Quantum of Solace. As badly as I want to see
Australia, it would get crushed that weekend.
As it stands, the film's new competition is not really
playing the same game. There's Transporter 3, which won't do much because
it's a Jason Statham movie, and Four Christmases, a romantic comedy
starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. Australia stands a much
better chance on November 26th. I'm sure you agree.
And here are a couple new pics from
the official Australia site, just in
case you haven't seen any of Luhrmann's great shots of stars
Nicole Kidman and
Hugh Jackman.
Reader Comments (2)
Why does Jackman have less clothes on than Nicole Kidman?
The argument that Lurman knows what he's doing goes right out the window.
I also can't wait for Australia! But one correction - australiamovie.net is a fantastic FAN site. The official site is australiamovie.com. Thanks for keeping everyone informed!