Keanu's 47 Ronin Pushed Again, To Christmas 2013

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure 1989 featuring Keanu Reeves as Ted.
(Image credit: Orion Pictures)

Are we ever, ever actually going to see Keanu Reeves's 47 Ronin? The massive martial arts project, which stars Reeves as a man wandering 18th-century Japan who joins a band of samurais, had initially been set for release on November 14 this year, and was bumped last spring to a release February 8, 2013. Now the film has been shifted yet again, but unlike a lot of movies that keep getting pushed back, it's been placed in an even more prime release date.

According to a release from Universal (via Deadline), 47 Ronin will now hit theaters on Christmas Day next year-- typically a spot for prime holiday season hits or Oscar bait, not troubled action movies once rumored to be unfinishable. Christmas of 2013 is currently scheduled for two family movies, the animated Mr. Peabody & Sherman and the Ben Stiller vehicle The Secret Life of Walter Mitty-- neither of which ought to be competition for Ronin.

Universal also made a few other shifts to their release schedule, setting a June 28 date next year for Kick-Ass 2-- yes, it's really happening!-- pushing the Melissa McCarthy-Jason Bateman comedy Identity Thief to 47 Ronin's former February 8 spot, and setting an April 5 release for Jurassic Park 3D, when it had been previously set for July 19. A lot of those movies sound promising, but none quite as baffling as 47 Ronin, which could be either a disaster or a potential giant hit-- or maybe both!

(Keanu Reeves image via Entertainment Press / Shutterstock.com)

Katey Rich

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend