July 2014 could go down as one of the wackiest scheduling months in Movie History.
The extended Independence Day weekend, which starts on Wednesday the 2nd, features a uniquely weak crop of new releases, because none are designed as blockbusters. The Melissa McCarthy comedy “Tammy”, Relativity Media’s “E.T.” knock-off “Earth to Echo”, and the Eric Bana horror film “Deliver Us From Evil”, should each do well for their respective audiences, but don’t expect them to be box office juggernauts like recent Independence Day openers “Despicable Me 2”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Hancock” and “Transformers”.
Warner Bros. originally planned to release the sci-fi action/adventure “Jupiter Ascending” on July 25. Last December, the release date was moved-up one week to July 18. But just a few weeks ago, WB made a bold decision to move the Channing Tatum/Mila Kunis movie to February 6, 2015, putting-it up against the next “SpongeBob” movie…at least for now. The reason given for this seven-month delay: The Wachowskis (“The Matrix”) couldn’t get all the special effects completed in time.
This began a feeding frenzy for spots and dates among the other studios with big movies set for July and August. Universal Pictures decided to move the Scarlett Johansson/Morgan Freeman action/thriller “Lucy” up two weeks from August 8 to a then still crowded July 25, sticking it in between two of their other films – horror sequel “The Purge: Anarchy” (original release date: June 20th; current release date: July 18) and the James Brown biopic “Get On Up” (out August 1). Meantime, “Step Up: All In” has switiched places with “Lucy”, moving from July 25 to August 8.
The main competition for “Lucy” is now director Brett Ratner’s version of “Hercules”, starring Dwayne Johnson. However, just added to the July 25 lineup is Gabriel Iglesias’ stand-up comedy tour documentary, “The Fluffy Movie”. Open Road originally planned its release for the 11th, which would have had it going up against “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (which 20th Century Fox isn’t moving anywhere).
But wait – there’s more! Sony/Columbia had their Cameron Diaz/Jason Segel comedy “Sex Tape” set for July 18, but decided to push it back to the 25th. But then, a few weeks later, they moved it back to the 18th. And Clarius Entertainment’s romantic comedy “And So It Goes”, starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, and directed by Rob Reiner, is now also in the July 18 line-up after vacating its July 11 spot. Even with all this switching, those two movies will likely be battling for 3rd place opening weekend behind “The Purge” and Disney’s high-flying animated sequel “Planes: Fire and Rescue”.
The result of all this movement means that “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will be the only big movie opening July 11. It was going to dominate the box office anyway, but now will clearly be top banana not only that weekend but for the entire, crazy month.