Release date news: Ender’s Game needs more time; Disney’s Maleficent gets a 2014 home

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

The sci-fi geeks among us who have been slobbering at the prospect at seeing a big-screen adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s ENDER’S GAME can wipe up the drool now; the wait just got a bit longer…

Summit Entertainment has decided to move ENDER’S GAME, which is currently in production in Canada under the watchful eye of Gavin Hood (WOLVERINE), from its MARCH 14, 2013 date to a NOVEMBER 1 slot of the same year. Though March is the “it” month at the moment, one potential reason for the move is the studio wants to heavily promote the film at next summer’s Comic-Con. In addition, they get away from Sam Raimi’s OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL and, of course, buy themselves some more time in post-production.

ENDER’S GAME’s synopsis: In the near future, a hostile alien race (Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Fleet (IF) Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite. Ender easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers at Battle School. Ordained by Graff as the IF’s next great hope, Ender is promoted to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and humankind.

Meanwhile, Disney has given its next big live-action epic MALEFICENT a comfy MARCH 15, 2014 date. As mentioned above, March has increasingly become a month to be reckoned with, as studios are using the early spring frame to launch notable tentpole movies. (See THE HUNGER GAMES, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, next year’s OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, etc.) The advantage is that the competition isn’t as fierce as it is during the summer months. However, that could soon change…

Directed by Oscar-winning production designer Robert Stromberg and starring Angelina Jolie (pictured below), MALEFICENT explores the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Sleeping Beauty heroine, Princess Aurora.