Lest you forget it was a real, happening project, Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game is currently shooting and will soon be the next blockbuster priority for Summit. Apparently rejiggering their plans and slate with their parent Lionsgate during this post-Hunger Games blowout, the studios have decided to push Ender’s Game back just short of a year to November 1st, 2013 from its original date on March 13th, 2013. This puts it a mere three weeks before Catching Fire, if the Hunger Games sequel gets its shit straight and makes its own intended release date.
This comes from THR, who point out that Lionsgate and Summit are now empowered to roll their marketing efforts for the two films together, though without a lot of crossover stars I’m not sure where the synergy comes from. This feels more like it would divide efforts, but they suggest Ender’s Game will benefit from being mentioned and promoted along with the phenomenon sequel.
Weirdness aside, the extra months may be a boon as I like the idea of any film that’s able to start marketing once it’s actually somewhat complete. This stops films from having oddly thin debuts as was the case with effects-heavy blockbusters like Green Lantern and The Avengers, which only had a meager amount of unfinished spectacle spat out of the computer to cut with when they put out their first teasers. In recent contrast, I’m finding the campaign for Dark Shadows pretty effective as example of a film that the studio held back until they mostly had it together.
Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld.