It’s in the can, but New Line’s family fantasy flick Inkheart is being pushed from its original release date of March 18 to January of 2009. According to Daily Variety, the Brendan Fraser vehicle is being shuffled around because the studio feels it can’t market it properly with TV networks losing viewers due to the writers’ strike.
Based on the young-adult book trilogy by Cornelia Funke, Inkheart is the story of a 12-year-old girl whose father discovers he has the ability to bring storybook characters to life while reading to his daughter. One day, he reads a book titled Inkheart and accidentally brings its villain, Capricorn, into the real world and sends his wife to the storybook realm. Years later, Capricorn finds the man and seeks to harness his abilities for evil deeds, and uses his daughter for bait.
Andy Serkis plays Capricorn in the film, which also stars Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettany and Helen Mirren. The studio reportedly wanted a more bankable star for the role of Mo Folchart, but hired Fraser at the insistence of Funke, who dedicated one of the books in the series to the actor. Visual effects were created by Framestore-CFC, Double Negative, Rainmaker, Cinesite, Peerless Camera Company and Glassworks.
The movie is being pushed back nearly a year because Fraser has two other fantasy films scheduled for release in 2008. New Line’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D is slated to hit theaters on July 11, and Universal’s sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens in theaters in Aug. 1.
