John Cusack’s Edgar Allan Poe Movie, Farrelly Comedy Omnibus & Jason Statham’s ‘Safe’ Dated

Some new dates have landed for a few films, so get our your movie calendar and mark things down accordingly.

First up, The Wachowskis‘ pal James McTeigue (“V For Vendetta,” “Ninja Assassin“) will unleash his Edgar Allan Poe flick formerly known as “The Raven” on March 9, 2012. Starring John Cusack as the famed writer, along with Luke Evans and Alice Eve, the ambitious film is a serial killer thriller which features Poe teaming up with a detective to track down a killer who mimics his work, in the last week of the writer’s life. Given McTeigue’s filmography so far, we expect this to be pure pulp. Relativity has some cojones putting the film up against “John Carter Of Mars” but they must think they have a good counter-programming number on their hands.

Remember the untitled R-rated comedy anthology Relativity announced last year with directors like Peter Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Mike Judge, Bob Odenkirk, Steve Baker, Damon Escot and more helming short films? That picture — previously known as “Movie 43” — now has a date, looking to bring the yuks on April 13, 2012. Other directors involved include Steven Brill, Steve Carr, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Patrik Forsberg, and James Gunn. The talent on display in these shorts is pretty insane too, including Emma Stone, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jason Sudeikis, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, and Bobby Cannavale. It’s currently the only movie scheduled that weekend, but the comic behemoth should keep other laffers away from that date.

Finally, a date has arrived for the semi-annual Jason Statham movie. This time, the film is “Safe,” details of which have been surprisingly kept under wraps. It’s said to be a bit more of a lower-key Statham outing, so we’re guessing more “The Bank Job” and less “Crank.” Writer/director Boaz Yakin is the wild card here because while he’s written stuff like “Fresh” and “The Rookie” he’s also directed “Uptown Girls.” So this could go either way. But it lands on the pretty plum Halloween weekend of October 28th where it will square off against “Now” and “The Rum Diary” so Lionsgate thinks they’ve got a contender on their hands. [ComingSoon/Variety]