Two of the biggest films of the next two summers have pushed back their release dates by at least six months. While specific reasons are not given, it's likely that both are the first casualties of the potential actor's strike that could hit the industry next June.
Walt Disney has shunted The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third in the Narnia franchise, from May 1, 2009 to May 7, 2010. The studios plan had been to release one Narnia movie per year, which is obviously now scuppered. The release date will be taken by G-Force, a Jerry Bruckheimer family-adventure about a band of animal commandoes trying to stop an evil billionaire taking over the world. It's so rare that you get the opportunity to write a sentence like that.
Universal has also decided to delay Mark Romanek's take on horror perennial The Wolf Man, with Benicio Del Toro as the hairy horror, which now moves from November 12, 2008 to spring 2009.
While this might sound like bad news for moviegoers anticipating either, or both, of these movies, it's almost certainly a good thing in the long run. Trying to get two complicated movies finished pre-strike, in a time when all big studios will be making as many movies as they can, could easily lead to both turning out a bit half-cocked. This should give both the attention they deserve. Nobody wants to see a mangy Wolf Man and a half-sunk Dawn Treader.