Two of the biggest sci-fi movies of 2013 are having their release schedules messed with. Sony has decided to make a few adjustments to their calendar next year and have even gone as far as to boot one of their biggest films off of it. The trade has learned that Elysium, the new movie from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, has shifted from March 1, 2013 to August 9, 2013 and have taken RoboCop, which originally had that August 9 the date, and moved it to February 7, 2014.
Box Office Mojo continues the chain by adding that Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers has been moved up from the new RoboCop date to September 27, 2013 and that Pixels, a film based on a short film being produced by Adam Sandler, has been taken off the schedule completely (it was originally supposed to be out May 17th next year).
In its new date Elysium will only find competition in the Jason Sudeikis comedy We're The Millers. Based on an original script by Blomkamp, the film is set in a future where the wealthy of the world have moved to a giant space station, while everyone else has been left to try and survive on the ruined earth. Damon plays Max, a man still living on Earth who works to try and create equilibrium.
As for Robocop, the change is actually very strange. Despite the fact that there are 52 weekends in the year, Sony has moved it to the same weekend as Buena Vista's Need For Speed adaptation, which is likely targeting the exact same demographic. Given how far away we are from 2014 it's entirely possible that things will change at some point, but for now it's a weird choice. The film is a remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film about a cop who is killed on duty and transformed into a litearl crime fighting machine. José Padilha is serving as director and the cast includes Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbie Cornish and Jay Baruchel.
Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers - a sequel to the hit Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs - will face little demographic competition in its new date, going up against the action thriller Runner, Runner and the Stallone-Schwarzenegger reteam The Tomb. The film brings back stars Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Neil Patrick Harris from the first movie and is being helmed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn.
