In a surprising show of confidence, Lionsgate has jumped Frank Miller’s The Spirit up from its nowheresville release date in early January 2009 to prime real estate during the holiday movie season of 2008. Specifically, The Spirit is now being released on Christmas.

Pushing the movie there may be a smart move. The Christmas season is as usual, already packed with movies, but none of them looks particularly fierce. The week before Christmas we’ll get movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Jim Carrey’s Yes Man, while on Christmas day itself a family adventure called Bedtime Stories and a comedy called Marley and Me are slated for release. All of those seem infinitely beatable, heck right now most of those movies, unlike The Spirit aren’t even really on anyone’s radar.

For more information on The Spirit, check out our preview.