Nicolas Cage was doing so well. Knowing popped up on Roger Ebert's Top 10 of 2009 list, Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans was brilliant and Kick Ass was a comic book adaptation that he was in that didn't suck. Sadly, he had to end the run with The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and whether he is disappointed in himself or there is some other reason, he's bailing on his next project.

Deadline reports that Cage has officially dropped out of Joel Schumacher's Trespass. According to the report, Cage has been on vacation in the Bahamas and will not be back in time to make the film, which begins principle photography in two weeks. Rather than waiting for the star, the studio plans to keep the film on schedule and move forward without him. In the film, Nicole Kidman will play a wife who is taken hostage by a group of thieves and, while Cage was initially going to play Kidman's husband, he later decided that he wanted to play one of the kidnappers instead. Cage previously starred in Schumacher's film 8mm.

Personally, I'm surprised that this doesn't happen to Schumacher more often. The man hasn't had a box office smash since 1997. That movie? Batman and Robin. Perhaps it's time to hang up the director's vest.

Update: Looks like he's changed his mind. Nic Cage is back in Trespass. Details at Deadline.