Warner Bros Challenges Marvel Release Dates

Published by Jeff Leins on: February 26th, 2009

Warner Bros has announced a long list of major release dates and it seems to have no problem going head to head with Marvel’s carefully scheduled superhero roll out.  The WB, who owns rival DC comics, is flexing its movie muscle against other comic book blockbusters in 2010 and 2011.  Their new, aggressive calendar puts pressure on two of the studio’s tentpole projects.

Christopher Nolan’s next film, Inception, will compete with Marvel’s stand-alone mythological hero, Thor. Both movies will premiere on July 16, 2010, unless Marvel decides to budge.  Pitting an untested hero versus the man who resurrected Batman is definitely a risk.

WB has also scheduled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) up against Marvel’s superhero team-up, The Avengers. This is even more of a direct challenge.  By positioning the final Harry Potter installment opposite Avengers, WB forces Marvel to shuffle their carefully constructed plan to introduce heroes incrementally before combining forces for a huge event.  Part 1 of Harry Potter 7 will debut November 19, 2010 and eight months later the franchise will wrap on July 15, 2011.  Marvel can’t afford to scoot Avengers up to Independence weekend because it would be too close to Captain America’s solo outing, and any further back would hurt its summer season.

But Warners didn’t just target Marvel.  They’ve also set up their own heroes to compete with other potential hits.

The origin story of Green Lantern is scheduled for December 17, 2010, which Sony currently occupies with a CG-animated Smurfs movie.  They’ve also scheduled the Clash of the Titans remake up against DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon and Overture’s Law Abiding Citizen on March 26, 2010.  Plus the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes has been bumped to the big time, shifting to December 25, 2009 along with the Alvin the Chipmunks sequel and Disney’s 2D animated The Princess and the Frog.

Other announced dates are Zack Snyder’s all-female ass kicker, Sucker Punch, on October 8, 2010 and another DC comic book property, Jonah Hex, on August 6, 2010.

I know that was probably a bit confusing, so here is just the full schedule:

Sherlock Holmes: December 25, 2009
Clash of the Titans: March 26, 2010
Inception: July 16, 2010
Jonah Hex: August 6, 2010.
Sucker Punch: October 8, 2010
Green Lantern: December 17, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II: July 15, 2011