Drag out your Dickbot, Warner Independent has finally come up with a release date for Richard Linklater's next movie, A Scanner Darkly. Previously, they'd simply thrown out a vague, March 2006 as its release, but now Freeze Dried Movies says they've picked a weekend. It'll hit theaters March 31, 2006.

That's a date that'll put it up against some fairly stiff competition (for March anyway). The horror/comedy Slither and the CGI flick Ice Age 2 are both slated for release that weekend. Neither movie is exactly catering to the sort of hardcore sci-fi audience Scanner is probably looking for, though I guess both it and Ice Age 2 are tricked up animation. Still, very different demos.

Whether Scanner will be in limited or wide release probably depends on whether Warner execs think anyone will want to see the finished product. The film uses that annoying rotoscoping technology, which might make it a hard sell. Still, it's based on a novel by Phillip K. Dick, which usually means… well in the past it's often meant a shitty movie. Let's hope this one is different.

For more information on the Sci-Fi flick A Scanner Darkly, including a more descriptive plot synopsis, check it out in our preview database.