Dreamworks hopes to make a big splash in 2011 from its new home at Disney and today sees the announcement of their planned 2011 slate with new release dates for most of the studios films and some interesting shifts.
First and foremost is the most prominent move sending Steven Spielberg’s War Horse to December 28, 2011 from its August 10 slot. Does this mean it’s an Oscar contender? Well, there are two sides to that tale.
It’s Spielberg so Oscar chatter is obviously going to come about, but as Anne Thompson points out, War Horse is intended as a “PG-13 family film,” which doesn’t always mean it’s a sure-fire awards contender. The film is an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel of the same name, as well as a recent stage adaptation, set against the backdrop of the Great War, and follows the extraordinary friendship between a boy and a horse who are separated but whose fates continue to intertwine over the course of WWI. Spielberg has gathered a lesser known cast of names for the film, which means a breakout performance may be likely, but I have my doubts on whether the film is prime for the Oscar circuit.
The move, however, packs December full of family friendly films including Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret (12/9), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked (12/16), the Spielberg and Peter Jackson teaming The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (12/23), and The Muppets (12/25). The Tintin release date means Spielberg will be pulling double PR duty in December. What fun.
Dreamworks set The Help, a big screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel, for an August 12, 2011 release. The film is set in Jackson, Miss. in the early 1960s, and explores how the unspoken code of behavior governing Southern households is shattered when an aspiring writer (Emma Stone) interviews Aibileen (Viola Davis), a maid who speaks candidly about her experiences. The interview sets off shock waves that reverberate across the entire community.
Next is Shawn Levy’s rock-’em-sock-’em robots feature Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman, which moved out of its November 18 slot to October 7, 2011. This puts it one week ahead of Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers.
Finallly, Dreamworks has set an August 19, 2011 release for their horror remake Fright Night, which revolves around a teen who finds out his neighbor is a vampire. The film stars Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette and Imogen Poots and arrives in theaters one week before WB’s Final Destination 5 and the same weekend as Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.
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