Oh how we are being spoilt with gifts next Christmas with Peter Jackson's long-awaited return to Middle Earth with
The Hobbit (Dec. 14th, 2012), Disney releasing their new attempt to create a Pirates of the Caribbean franchise with Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp's
The Lone Ranger (Dec. 21st, 2012), Judd Apatow will be giving us his Knocked Up spin-off
This Is Forty (Dec 21st, 2012) and long rumoured for a slot somewhere in there is Zack Snyder's Superman reboot
Man of Steel, not to mention that everyone expects
Star Trek 2 to be bumped from it's Summer 2012 date to Christmas (now I would suggest it'll go to 2013). Now another notable release will be gunning it out next Christmas and it may turn out to be a smart counter programming move.
Box Office Mojo have confirmed that
Quentin Tarantino's 8th film
Django Unchained will be released by The Weinstein Company on Christmas Day 2012 and what better present could you want? (As a side note - are cinema's open on Christmas Day, they certainly aren't in the U.K. - does that mean it's real release is Dec 26th, 2012?) This will be the first Tarantino movie released during the festive season since 1997's
Jackie Brown (promoted with the tagline 'Santa's Got A Brand New Bag' if you can remember) and without a doubt, it's a conscious move from The Weinsteins for an Awards season bow, thinking Quentin has a serious Oscar contender on his hands with his black slavery Spaghetti Western. Paramount did a similar thing with the Coen Brothers Western
True Grit last year which opened in the U.S. on December 22nd. We had expected (and probably Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux did, and is now crying into his cheerio's) that Tarantino would again challenge himself to another August shoot - to May premiere turn-a-round, delivering Django Unchained at the Cannes Film Festival 2012 - something that worked so well for him with the multiple Oscar recognised
Inglourious Basterds but no, he's giving himself a schedule that might not kill him this time. So not only another major release in December 2012 but also another huge film in a year that seems to be one of the more significant and blockbuster packed in recent years. I can recount about 100 movies I'm already desperate to see next year. You can find all our articles on Django Unchained
HERE.