Warner Bros. and DC Comics made a bold move when they moved Zack Snyder's upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie to May 6, 2016 - a date that Marvel Studios has already planted a flag in - but now Marvel is returning the favor by taking over the slot that the competition gave up. According to Variety, Edgar Wright's Ant-Man has been bumped up the 2015 schedule, moving from July 31, 2015 to July 17th.
This is actually the second big release date move that Marvel has made with the Ant-Man project. After years and years of development, the studio finally put the film on their release schedule for back in October 2012, dating the movie for the weekend of November 6 2015, but that plan was altered this past September when the movie made the jump to the summer blockbuster season. In its newest slot, the only direct competition the film will face is Joe Wright's Peter Pan movie, but it will also be sandwiched between the releases of the Despicable Me spin-off Minions (July 10, 2015) and the Judd Apatow-directed Amy Schumer comedy Trainwreck (July 24, 2015).
It's only a two week move so I can't imagine that the switched release date will have any major effect on Ant-Man's production schedule, but things are gearing up to start soon. Michael Douglas and Paul Rudd are on board to play two different versions of the Ant-Man character (Dr. Hank Pym and Scott Lang, respectively), but right now they are the only two actors who have been officially announced as part of the cast. The hunt is still on for the film's female lead, who will presumably play Janet Van Dyne a.k.a. Wasp. Rumors have suggested that Rashida Jones and Bryce Dallas Howard are both up for the part, but given the former's new television series and the latter's commitments to Jurassic World neither of those actresses will probably end up with the part.
Not much is known about Ant-Man's plot at this point, the screenplay co-written by Wright and Attack The Block director Joe Cornish. Back when the project was first in development, Wright said that the movie would open with a prologue in the 1960s and center on a young Hank Pym first constructing the Ant-Man costume and discovering the powerful Pym particles that allow him to shrink himself down to insect size. Then the story would move to the present day and follow Scott Lang as he teams up with an older Pym in an adventure with the suit.
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