Warner Bros. has moved Guy Ritchie‘s untitled King Arthur movie out of its high-profile summer slot and assigned it a new release date of Friday, Feb. 17, 2017.
Charlie Hunnam stars as the title character alongside Jude Law, Eric Bana and Djimon Hounsou.
Ritchie’s last WB movie based on an old property, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” lost more than $50 million for the studio. While Warners may be hoping to replicate the success of 20th Century Fox’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” which opened in mid-February and grossed over $400 million worldwide, that figure may be a bit out of reach for “King Arthur.”
That said, Warner Bros. feels confident about the Presidents Day weekend release corridor, having found success with “The Lego Movie.” The King Arthur movie will now compete for the box office crown against two high-profile sequels, Sony’s “Bad Boys 3” and 20th Century Fox’s “The Maze Runner: The Death Cure.”
“King Arthur” was slated for release on July 22, 2016, when it would’ve gone head-to-head with Paramount’s “Star Trek Beyond.” Instead, Warner Bros. blinked and moved New Line’s horror movie “Lights Out” into the old “King Arthur” slot, where it will also compete with the latest “Ice Age” movie, which appeals to a very different audience.
Produced by James Wan and based on the short film by David F. Sandberg, “Lights Out” stars Teresa Palmer as a woman haunted by a creature that only appears when the lights go out.
The horror movie is testing well and had been slated to open Sept. 9, but Warner Bros. recently announced it will release Clint Eastwood‘s “Sully” starring Tom Hanks on that date.
Warner Bros. had success releasing a horror movie in the middle of summer earlier this year, as “The Gallows” made $42 million worldwide on a production budget of only $100,000.