Looks like we’re going to have to adjust our list of The 52 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012, knocking the number down to a significantly less exciting 51. Summit Entertainment has just announced that they are pushing the release of Warm Bodies from August 10 of this year allllllll the way to February 1 of next year. When I touted the film as part of our most anticipated list of plenty, I explained it as such:
Jonathan Levine follows up his critical cancer comedy hit, 50/50, with an en vogue type of affair – a zombie love story based on a YA novel. But Isaac Marion’s source material shares considerably more with Romeo and Juliet than it does with The Walking Dead and that, along with its up-and-coming cast (Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Dave Franco, Rob Corddry, and no less than John Malkovich) recommend this original look at love at the end of the world.
And that’s all still true, but now we have to wait six more months to catch it. I feel like a zombie just took a bite out of my heart. While I’m not the biggest fan of Marion’s novel, I think it’s a fun basis for a film, and I believe in both Levine and the solid cast he’s assembled for this outing.
So why the move? Deadline Arlington believes it’s to get “it out of the way of tentpoles The Bourne Legacy and Total Recall,” both of which are releasing the week before the film’s original release date, which seems like a fair assumption. The film’s new release date does give it a bit more wiggle room – January has a few releases already on the docket, including Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Broken City, The Last Stand, the 3D re-release of Monsters, Inc., Summit’s own Now You See Me, and Planet B-Boy (in 3D!), none of which seem poised to impact a monster-y YA love story like Warm Bodies, and yet… While not much else looks like the film in February, there is Lionsgate’s own I, Frankenstein, which reads a bit like a more grown-up take on the film. Hey, double feature!