Warner Bros. Pushes Jack the Giant Killer Until 2013; Puts Arthur & Lancelot on Hold
Posted 01.22.12 by Ryan
Director Bryan Singer's (X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Superman Returns) participation in the upcoming Jack the Giant Killer was cemented when Warner Bros. exercised a contract option that locked Singer to the director's chair and kept him from directing last summer's X-Men: First Class. Production on this riff on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale began last May, and the teaser trailer released last month indicated that Jack was on track to met its June 15th release date. With X-Men: First Class already on DVD and possibly getting a sequel, it doesn't look like audiences will get to look at Singer's movie for a while, since Warners has pushed Jack the Giant Killer's release date, scheduling it for March 22, 2013, instead of this summer.
The move is less dramatic than it appears, at least for Singer's Jack. The same can't be said for Arthur & Lancelot. This lighthearted take on the King Arthur legend from director David Dobkin (The Change-Up, Wedding Crashers) has been put on hold by the studio over concerns about the movie's budget. With Kit Harington (HBO's Game of Thrones) and Joel Kinnaman (AMC's The Killing) cast as Arthur and Lancelot, respectively, and a start date set for the spring, THR reports that the movie's budget spiraled from less than $100 million to $130 million, prompting Warners to put the project on hold and schedule Jack the Giant Killer in its place.
A Warners insider said that Arthur & Lancelot is "not dead", but may require changes before it moves forward, and may ultimately be recast. While that's not good news for Dobkin or his cast, the move only benefits Jack the Giant Killer because it allows Singer and his crew for more time to perfect the movie's special effects and lets it avoid opening in a crowded theater landscape this summer. To fill Jack's former release date, Warners moved the musical Rock of Ages back two weeks to June 15th.
Set in medieval England, Jack the Giant Killer follows a young farmhand named Jack (Nicholas Hoult, X-Men:First Class) who unwittingly opens up a gateway to a world filled with giants. Jack is then tasked with saving a princess (Eleanor Tomlinson, Alice in Wonderland) as well as stopping a fearsome race of giants. Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Lemke, and Mark Bomback,stars Ewan McGregor as palace guard Elmont, Bill Nighy and John Kassir as the two-headed leader of the giants, Ian McShane as King Brahmwell, and Stanley Tucci as the Brahmwell's villainous adviser Lord Roderick.