‘Rio’ and ‘Water For Elephants’ Also Shift
While the original “Saw” isn’t exactly a classic — it’s far too badly acted for that — it’s important to remember that in the light of the half-dozen increasingly awful sequels that it was, in its way, kind of an ingenious concept for a thriller, and director/writer duo James Wan and Leigh Whannell have followed it up with a pair of enjoyably grubby B-movies, “Dead Silence” and “Death Sentence,” even if neither had anything like the impact of their debut.
They’re returning to the horror genre in the new year with “Insidious,” a haunted house chiller that toplines Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, and picked up very strong notices when it premiered in the Midnight Madness strand in Toronto. It was picked up by Sony at the festival, and according to Box Office Mojo, (via Coming Soon), the film now has a release date as the company will release the spooky tale through Graham King‘s new Film District label on April 1st.
It doesn’t seem like the best date, immediately — it’s up against other genre fare like “Source Code” and “Mother’s Day,” but with a strong marketing campaign, this could be a fairly large sleeper hit if the early reviews were correct.
There have also been a few other April release shifts, knock-ons from Warner Bros.‘ bullish move of their Steve Carell/Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love” from an Easter date on April 22nd to the height of summer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox have moved their circus love triangle “Water For Elephants” with Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon to April 22nd, while their 3D animation “Rio” will hit a week earlier on April 15th, moved up 10 days or so from its original April 5th date.
With Easter falling so late this year, it sort of makes sense as Fox is hoping to wipe away their terrible 2010 with four quadrant hits like these. At the same time, it doesn’t give them as much breathing room before the chaotic summer kicks off with “Thor” on May 6th. We’ll see in April whether or not it was a wise move.