Little Fockers switches release from July 30th to December 22nd.

Deciding that what worked so well last time will work again this time, Universal has moved Little Fockers from its July 30th release date smack dab into Christmas weekend, or December 22nd.  I'm assuming this might have something to do with better than expected in-house buzz for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, which will now open on August 13th.  It might also have something to do with the fact that Meet the Fockers parlayed a Christmas weekend release in 2004 into a mammoth $279 million domestic gross, which makes it the second highest-grossing comedy of all-time behind Home Alone ($285 million).

Perhaps after the uber-strong January/February 2009 slate, which crippled the Christmas 2008 releases (Bedtime Stories, Marley and Me, Valkyrie), scared off Universal and sent them towards a summer release for what arguably is their biggest franchise.  But after the sustained legs of not only Avatar, but Alvin and the Chipmunks, Sherlock Holmes, and It's Complicated, Universal must have realized/hoped that the blockbuster January 09 business (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, My Blood Valentine, Taken, Gran Torino, etc) was somewhat of a fluke.  On the other hand, the surefire hit will now surely dampen the reception of the Coen Brothers' True Grit  remake (which opens on Saturday the 25th) as well as Michale Gondry's The Green Hornet.  We'll see...

Scott Mendelson