“That K sound in killer is just so mean, you know? So sharp and nasty. Now slayer… that’s a nice, soft word that just rolls off the tongue and goes down easy, you know? It’s even a little more obscure than kill, so it doesn’t traumatize eight year olds, you know?”
I guess these are some of the thoughts behind Warner Brothers changing the title of Bryan Singer’s epic adventure film Jack The Giant Killer to Jack The Giant Slayer. Just slide that premise-inherent murder right on by the kiddies, they must be thinking.
In any event, transparently pussy-footed title change notwithstanding, the studio’s confidence in the film still seems kind of iffy as they seal the movie in for a March 1st, 2013 date. This is a slight shift up from the March 22nd date it had before today, and gets it out in front of Oz: The Great And Powerful, as well as the Carrie remake and Dreamworks’ The Croods, which it would have opened against.
It’s very possible to make serious dough in March with a CGI extravaganza, as evidenced by Alice In Wonderland (a magic WB and Disney are both hoping to capture) starting out its billion dollar run on March 5th of 2010. The Hunger Games also did the same last year, though that would have kicked the doors down in any month it was released.
The cast is awesome (McShane, Tucci, McGregor, Nighy!) and Singer has, on occasion, directed the hell out of some epic action, so I’m hoping for the best…