Universal have had a rough twelve months or so. Despite some occasional surprise bright spots like “Couples Retreat” their slate has mostly been made up of overly expensive pictures that never really connected critically or commercially, from “State of Play,” “Bruno” and “Funny People” to “The Wolf Man,” “Robin Hood,” “Green Zone” and “MacGruber.” We’re sure fingers are crossed that “Despicable Me” and “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” turn things around, but either way, the studio have revealed their slate for the latter part of this year and the beginning of the next.
The biggest news is that the Matt Damon-starrer “The Adjustment Bureau,” which had already moved from a July release date to September, has shifted again, this time to the beginning of March 2011 (almost exactly the same slot where Damon and the studio bit the dust with “Green Zone”). Rumors have been rife for a while about a somewhat troubled production, and this doesn’t bode well, but having said that, maybe the studio are trying to buy some time to rethink their marketing after the first trailer for the film bored everyone who watched it into a coma.
That film will be joined two weeks later by the long-awaited “Paul,” which teams “Superbad” director Greg Mottola with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who play two comic geeks who end up road-tripping with a real life alien (a CGI creation brought to life by Seth Rogen). It’s been set for a date in the spring for a little while, and it now looks like it’ll officially be released on March 18th. If the script and talented cast (which also includes Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Sigourney Weaver and Bill Hader) are anything to go by, this should be a much-needed hit for the studio. Even so, it feels like an odd slot, only a few weeks before David Gordon Green’s delayed medieval stoner comedy “Your Highness,” which hits April 8th, and goes after a similar target audience.
The rest of the slate’s pretty weak to be honest, but at least shows a shift in approach, mostly being made up of cheapo genre offering like the M. Night Shyamalan-produced “Devil,” on September 17th (the spot originally held by “The Adjustment Bureau”); the apocalyptic drama “Skyline” on November 12th; the Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro starrer “The Dark Fields” on January 21st, and the James Cameron-produced 3D diving thriller “Sanctum” on February 4th.
Finally, the M.I.A. Topher Grace comedy “Kids In America” (which appears to have reverted to its original title, having formerly been called “Young Americans”) finally has a date, on December 3rd this year. That college-set picture, which also starred then-rising stars like Anna Faris, Teresa Palmer and Dan Fogler, filmed in the middle of 2007, and has now been in search of a release date for nearly four years. To put that in perspective, three “Twilight” movies and two “Transformers” pictures have been released in that time. What, were they were hoping it would mature like a good cheddar? With a December release are Universal hoping for Christmas awards season miracle?