George Clooney’s ‘Ides Of March’ Arrives On October 14th; ‘Resident Evil 5’ Hits Sept 14, 2012

With shooting already underway on George Clooney‘s political drama “The Ides of March,” Sony already has Oscar in their eyes (and are avoiding a potential marketing hiccup) by moving the film from the previously scheduled December 2011 bow to an October 14, 2011 release. In what we imagine will be a platform release (and pretty much guaranteeing a TIFF premiere for the film), the movie will run up against some major heavyweights that weekend including “The Big Year” with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson, the remakes of “Footloose” and “The Thing,” as well as the 3D swashbuckler “The Three Musketeers.” The move out of December will also allow Sony to put all their energy in November and December in what will likely be an insane press run up for David Fincher‘s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

“The Ides Of March” is an adaptation of a political play by Beau Willimon co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov. Loosely based on the 2004 Democratic primary run of Howard Dean, the Iowa-set story takes place just weeks before the state’s Democratic caucuses officially commence, following the exploits of a twenty-something presidential campaign spinmeister/wunderkind named Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling) and the dirty pool he plays to get his candidate the nomination against a rival senator. Paul Giamatti will play that rival campaign manager, Marisa Tomei is a New York Times reporter and Evan Rachel Wood stars as an intern for Myers’ campaign.

The other announcement by Sony this evening is that the fifth installment in the bafflingly successful ‘Resident Evil‘ franchise has been confirmed and set with a date. “Resident Evil 5” will land — in 3D of course — on September 14, 2012. Milla Jovovich and her husband and auteur Paul W.S. Anderson aren’t confirmed, but are pretty much guaranteed to return. Each entry in the series has made more than the last and we don’t expect Sony to deviate too much from the formula here: make it for cheap, put Milla in spandex, greenlight. Audiences want it, and Sony is delivering and while it may not be our bag, can’t blame the studio for wanting to make some easy bank. [BoxOfficeMojo]