Believe it or not, it’s not too soon to shuffle animated movie release dates for 2009. The latest example: DreamWorks Animation and Paramount announced today that their upcoming stereoscopic 3-D feature Monsters vs. Aliens will be arriving in theaters a couple of months ahead of planned’on March 27, 2009 instead of May 15, 2009. This means the movie will go head to head with Sony Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
‘I believe that next generation 3-D will make our CG films even more special and unique,’ says Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation’s CEO. ‘We are thrilled to have Monster vs. Aliens as the first opportunity for audiences to enjoy this exciting new movie experience. Moving to a March release date, which has proven to be a great slot for family films, allows us to roll out our first 3-D project on the maximum amount of screens as the year’s first big event film to hit the market in this new format.’
Monsters vs. Aliens, which reinvents the classic ’50s monster movie into an irreverent modern day action comedy, will be directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) and Rob Letterman (Shark Tale), produced by Lisa Stewart (I Think I Love My Wife) and co-produced by Jill Hopper and Latifa Ouaou.
Among the other films duking it out at the box office in 2009 will be Disney’s The Princess and The Frog, Frank Miller’s adaptation of The Spririt, Zach Snyder’s Watchmen, Disney’s G-Force, Pixar’s UP and James Cameron’s Avatar. Let the animated battle royale begin!
