Adjustment Bureau Lives Up to its Name, Moves Again to March 2011

Universal this afternoon passed along a new batch of release dates for its 2010-11 slate, and it looks... unfortunate. Not to be the eternal skeptic or anything, but how else should one respond to The Adjustment Bureau getting moved a second time in three months -- and this time all the way to next March? Will this be 2011's surprise off-season blockbuster, a la Shutter Island? Or will it be its bloated, mistimed flop The Wolfman?

Hint: Only one of those films was released by Universal, and it was not the one that came out on the winning end of things after multiple delays and bumps into February 2010. But let's try to have some hope for the Matt Damon/Emily Blunt thriller, which looks respectable at the very least and will now face off against the animated Johnny Depp/Gore Verbinski reunion Rango. No specific reason was given for the delay (among the suggestions floating around Movieline HQ: "Hat 3D," "More time to recycle Despicable Me's iPhone app," "What's an 'adjustment bureau'?" etc. etc.), but it's interesting to see Universal drop its lean, Manoj N. Shyamalan-produced genre thriller Devil in the Sept. 17 slot, where it will hopefully have a little more counterprogramming edge -- particularly against Ben Affleck's The Town.

Anyway, what else... Oh: The Bradley Cooper thriller Dark Fields is headed your way Jan. 11, 2011, while the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedy Paul is slated for March 18. Good luck to all.

· Universal Pictures Sets New Release Dates [Coming Soon]