'Sorcerer's Apprentice' Conjures a Release Date

A few scheduling moves from Disney made the trades tonight. In addition to delaying The Proposal one week (it will now open on June 19th), James McTeigue's Ninja Assassin is being moved up from 2010 to November 25th and The Box from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly is getting the shuffle from that November 25th slot to October 30th, the studio revealed that the Jerry Bruckheimer production, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, will be in theaters on July 16, 2010. If the name sounds familiar, that's because it's the most famous chapter in Disney's landmark antimated film, Fantasia, although Bruckheimer's movie will be a live-action film only inspired by the story. The official synopsis: "A sorcerer (Nicolas Cage) leaves his workshop in the hands of his apprentice (Jay Baruchel), who gets into trouble when the broomstick he's tasked to do his chores for him somehow develops a mind of its own." Is that a summer blockbuster? Doesn't sound like it, but that's what Bruckheimer and Disney are banking on. They have another film headed to theaters next summer - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time that has a much bigger upside. We don't know for sure, but this could be a move made to jump on the recent departure from that weekend by Marvel's Thor, which has been repositioned as a 2011 release.