Calendar Alert! If you were anxiously waiting for a chance to see how the Bourne franchise holds up with Jeremy Renner taking over for Matt Damon, you’ll have to wait a little longer. “The Bourne Legacy” is being moved from August 3rd to August 10th. Universal says they want to get the film away from both “The Dark Knight Rises,” which opens in mid-July and is expected to dominate for weeks, and “Total Recall,” which also opens on August 3rd. They also say they want some additional Olympics ad time (the Olympics start July 27th).
There were a few days of additional shooting recently, but Universal insists those were just pickups, not anything extensive. The reshoots were handled by second unit director Dan Bradley, not director tony Gilroy, so either it is true that they just needed some extra coverage or there is some tremendous rift with Gilroy. There hasn’t been any word of trouble on the set, so the former is more likely, I think. Reportedly the film has tested well.
There’s also been some good buzz around “Total Recall,” so it only makes sense to break them up. Reportedly theater owners had been miffed about having two big action pictures opening on the same day, so hopefully they’re happy now. I’d just want to know who had the idea to schedule them on the same day in the first place.
Here’s Universal’s press release:
“Just as The Avengers demonstrated marketplace sustainability that well outpaced traditional patterns earlier this summer, the industry expects a similar trajectory for The Dark Knight Rises. Moving one week further from its release will give The Bourne Legacy an even greater opportunity to maximize its opening box office potential. Moving to August 10 will also allow us to extend valuable promotion for the film across all NBCUniversal platforms during the Olympics, which will dominate television and digital audiences beginning July 27. We are excited about this new chapter in our Bourne franchise and confident that August 10 is the right date for our film and for our industry as a whole.”
