Strewth! Looks Harry Potter And The Shift Into Next Summer has had a real impact on the November schedules in the States.
First, Quantum Of Solace took advantage of the absence of the sixth Potter film, …The Half-Blood Prince, to push back a week, from November 7 to November 14.
That brought it into direct competition with Baz Luhrmann’s long-awaited epic romance, Australia. But that little tete-a-tete didn’t last long, for Australia has just moved back by a whopping 12 days, to November 26.
The move will pit it against the Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon comedy, Four Christmases, and the mighty behemoth that is the return of Jason Statham as Frank Martin in Transporter 3.
It’s unlikely that those three films will see much audience overlap, although punters looking for something light and fluffy the day before Thanksgiving might be torn between Luhrmann’s sumptuous romance between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and the broader Vaughn/Witherspoon comedy.
It also remains to be seen how a film that could only become more Australian if Rolf Harris showed up and started wobbling away on his didgeridoo will play on the weekend when America is celebrating its most patriotic holiday.
Australia is still scheduled to open here on Boxing G’day.