While we’re definitely looking forward to Kevin Macdonald’s forthcoming adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliff’s Brit kid’s classic “The Eagle Of The Ninth” the title never really sat quite right with us. While the title will certainly be familiar with Brit audiences, for anyone outside the country, and who have never read the book, “The Eagle Of The Ninth” sounds like a dull-as-drywall golf movie instead of an exciting story of a young Roman centurion investigating the now 20-year disappearance of the legion to restore the reputation of his father, who was the legion’s commander.
Well, wiser heads at Focus Features have prevailed, and the film will now be released under an amended/abbreviated title, “The Eagle.” It’s not bad, but not great either and ultimately pretty generic; the trailers will have to be something else to get the title and premise to stick in the minds of audiences. Luckily, this isn’t a last minute title change or anything as marketing hasn’t really started, so they’ll have plenty of time to make sure the message gets out.
This isn’t the only change the film has had so far. As we reported earlier this year, the film — starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong and Tahar Rahim — was originally tentatively scheduled for a September release before being pushed to February 25, 2011. Dumping ground release or a “Shutter Island” in the making? Time will tell….