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Tuesday
28Jul2009

Universal Shelves 'Wolf Man' Until February 2010

DateTuesday, July 28, 2009 at 9:37PM
If it quacks like a duck and gets pushed back from release date to release date like a duck, it's probably a duck. And a lame one at that. Universal's The Wolf Man, a key piece in the studio's plans to reinvent its classic horror line, has been shoved to 2010.

We should have seen it coming by now; the film was originally going to be released in April. Then it moved to November, which made a little more sense although October is a better fit. That shift allowed Universal to tie in some Halloween-related theme park stuff, and that's minor but an allowable excuse in this circumstance.

Now, Shock Till You Drop says it's moving to February 12, 2010. Not a bad weekend on its own, but clearly the wrong weekend for a movie that should be nearly a year old to audiences by that point. The translation is easy: Universal is saddled with a bad movie and will probably spend some time trying to fix the visual representation of the monster, but is ultimately resigned to taking a hit on this one.

I trace the problems back to the departure of director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo). That left the project twisting in the breeze and instead of attaching a similar visual stylist, the studio hired the yoemanlike Joe Jonhston on the quick. Those things are tough to overcome, even with a good cast and lots of money because no two directors will direct a movie the same way. Unless you hire Brian De Palma.

So here's a movie with Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt, a big Hollywood tradition, and plenty of studio support for a couple of years, and now it's going to have the reputation as a movie to avoid in 2010. What a shame.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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