'STAR TREK' BOLDLY GOES WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE...YET: MAY 8, 2009 (VAR, THR)

By Nancy Vialatte

Paramount has announced it will push back the release of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" from Dec. 25 to May 8, 2009. The studio feels the film has greater gross potential as a summer tentpole. The move came amid a major reshuffling to the studio's (and DreamWorks�) release calendar.

" 'Star Trek' is moving to summer because its has so much boxoffice potential," Paramount spokesman Michael Vollman said. "It does not need any script tweaks. They're two-thirds of the way through shooting, and we would have delivered a great movie at Christmas."

DreamWorks' 2008 Ben Stiller summer comedy "Tropic Thunder" is moving from July 11 to Aug. 15. That's likely to mean that another film will take "Tropic's" old spot on July 11, says Variety and particularly since there is such a dearth of broad comedies in the May-July stretch.

"July 11 could be up for grabs now," one distribution exec enthused to The Hollywood Reporter and added that he might move an unspecified tentpole comedy into the open summer slot.

Indeed, many of the majors are likely to revisit their release schedules in the wake of the writers' strike as they try to balance out their 2008 and 2009 calendars.

"Star Trek" has no competition in its new slot, although it opens one week after 20th Century Fox bows "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and one week before Sony is slated to bow �Da Vinci Code� sequel "Angels and Demons."

Paramount also dated set Martin Scorsese's Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer "Shutter Island" for Oct. 2, 2009.

Other changes include Eddie Murphy family pic "Nowhereland" moving from Sept. 26, 2008, to June 12, 2009; Renee Zellweger horror-thriller "Case 39" moving from Aug. 22, 2008, to April 10, 2009 and David Fincher's Brad Pitt starrer "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" moving from Nov. 26, 2008, to Dec. 19, 2008.

Interestingly, notes THR, distrib reaction to the Par moves included puzzlement over why Par hadn't gotten its Mike Myers comedy "The Love Guru" away from June 20 rival "Get Smart." The Steve Carell starrer is expected to be one of the biggest releases of the summer.