"Phoenix" Rises as "Aviator" Flies

Better not dial up that Moviefone order just yet.

Hollywood's major studios, jockeying for Oscar buzz and box-office bucks, are making some last-minute tweaks to their release scheduled.

Notably, two aeronautic-themed flicks are changing gates; 20th Century Fox is moving up up the launch of its action-adventure remake Flight of the Phoenix from Dec. 25 to Dec. 17 now that Miramax's The Aviator has vacated that spot.

The latter film, Martin Scorsese's biopic on eccentric millionaire flyboy Howard Hughes, featuring an all-star cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, had been set to unspool nationwide on the 17th, but will now only debut on that date in limited release--i.e., about two dozen screens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The film, which Miramax is pushing for Academy Award consideration, will go wide on Christmas.

Both films are going to be facing some serious competition, however, as the Tinseltown gears up for what's traditionally one of its busiest periods.

With Phoenix landing on the 17th, it will now face off against Paramount's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, a phantasmagoric children's tale starring Jim Carrey, and Sony's Spanglish, a comedy headlining Adam Sandler and directed by Oscar winner James L. Brooks (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets).

Fox execs feel that Phoenix, which stars Dennis Quaid as one of 10 people stranded in the Mongolian desert after a plane crash, will appeal to the testosterone set.

"The Aviator's move gives us a terrific opportunity to take an earlier Flight as the only action adventure picture of the holiday season. And as the first plane off the runway, we'll have extra holiday playing time for a film that will have terrific word of mouth," said Bruce Snyder, 20th Century Fox's president of domestic distribution.

As for Miramax, moving back The Aviator will leave the film in a dogfight with a bunch of Christmas relases, including Universal's Meet the Fockers, Disney's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fox's Fat Albert and two Warner Bros.' entries, Darkness and The Phantom of the Opera (the latter will screen in 600 theaters before going wider in January).

Of course, the last time Miramax slotted a Christmas week release for a Scorsese picture was back in 2002 with Gangs of New York and the results weren't pretty. Not only did the film receive mixed reviewss, but it barely made its money back and went 0-for-10 at the Oscars.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to boffo box office this season is that Christmas falls on a Saturday, which means potential moviegoers don't have an extra day during the week to flock to the megaplex.

The last time that happened was in 1999 and business wasn't exactly booming. The top film that holiday weekend was Any Given Sunday, which opened Dec. 22 and made a modest $20.6 million over the five-day period. Other films released that year included Stuart Little, which eked out $80 million over three weeks, and Anna and the King and Bicentennial Man, both of which bombed.

Meanwhile, another film opening further down the road has been rescheduled. Disney and Pixar announced Tuesday that their final collaboration, Cars, which was parked in a November 2005 slot, will instead cruise in June 9, 2006.

Ostensibly, the studios say the move will allow the film to take advantage of the summer season. "The move from November 2005 to June 2006 makes perfect sense," said Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios. "In the vein of Finding Nemo, we feel the movie will have legs throughout summer and beyond."

"Cars longs to be a summer movie," added Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. "We plan to finish Cars on its original schedule, and look forward to Cars and our future films benefiting by summer theatrical releases and holiday DVD releases."

The rescheduling comes just about a month after a Cars preview debuted in front of The Incredibles and has some fans speculating that the 'toon is getting a major tune-up. The trailer underwhelmed audiences and prompted a long thread on the news group rec.arts.movies.current-films titled "Will Cars Be Pixar's First Bomb?"