Ok, Paramount is playing musical chairs with the release dates for a number of their biggest upcoming hits, so let's just jump right in...
Of greatest interest to me is the recently reborn live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which reportedly has Jonathan Liebesman(Battle: Los Angeles) in talks to direct. The Platinum Dunes produced film will come out of its shell on Christmas Day 2013. Nothing else is set for that date just yet, but we expect to see the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs sequel during that month, as well as The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
It's hard to tell what Paramount is thinking by swapping two major films starring arguably the two biggest male stars on the planet. They've decided to bump World War Z, the adaptation of Max Brooks' zombie apocalypse novel and featuring Brad Pitt in the lead, all the way down to June 21st 2013. That leaves its previous December 21st release date wide open, which they're now filling with One Shot, starring Tom Cruise in an adaptation of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novel.
December is going to be tough for everybody this year, with Django Unchained, Ang Lee's Life of Pi(can we get some set photos or something, please?), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Judd Apatow's This is Forty, The Great Gatsby, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, and Tom Hooper's Les Miserables all vying for your box office dollars. To me it would seem wiser for Paramount to move both films out of that crowded month, but maybe this means they have a ton of confidence in what they've seen of One Shot so far?
