Jack the Giant Killer delayed to 2013, Arthur and Lancelot delayed indefinitely

JACK THE GIANT KILLER, Bryan Singer’s fantasy epic staring Nicholas Hoult, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane, Stanley Tucci, and Ewan McGregor, has borne the release date of June 15th for a while now.  We’ve seen some a few images, we’ve seen a trailer, and all seemed to be going well enough. But now, perhaps to avoid the wealth of blockbusters that will be seen in the cinema this summer, the flick has instead been moved to March 22nd, 2013. The change in release date hopefully has little resonance beyond Bryan Singer wanting to perfect the special effects and the studio wanting to market the film to an audience more likely to see it by having the trailer play in front of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY.

Meanwhile, things are looking less and less hopeful for ARTHUR AND LANCELOT, a piece “intended to be similar in tone to Warner’s successful SHERLOCK HOLMES franchinse” which was pitched and meant to be directed by Dave Dobkin (WEDDING CRASHERS, THE CHANGE UP).  After casting Kit Harington (GAME OF THRONES) as Arthur and Joel Kinnaman (AMC’s THE KILLING) as Lancelot, trouble began to brew with the studio as the budget crept up from less than $100 million to well over $130 million.  And so, it has now been reported that “Dobkin called talent and crew Wednesday night to inform them that Lancelot ‘wasn’t looking good.'” The movie was set to release March 15th, 2013, but has instead been shelved with no indication of how or when it will find it’s way to production.  “We are trying to make it work. It’s not dead” said an insider from Warner Bros.  We’ll see, but I’m not encouraged.