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RoboCop Remake Delayed Until 2014

The Jose Padilha-directed remake of RoboCop, originally scheduled to open in theaters on August 9, 2013, has been delayed until February 7, 2014, ostensibly to make room for another film but some “experts” claim the delay is also meant to allow for 3-D conversion to increase its viability at the international box office.

Of course, that’s the same reason given for the delay earlier this year of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and rumors immediately began to swirl that in fact the movie was going back for reshoots to fix some pretty serious script problems. RoboCop is still shooting, but Hollywood gossip bloggers had been claiming right along that it had script problems of its own, making the whole thing seem like a very familiar narrative.

Then again, Sony Pictures–who are distributing RoboCop–also delayed the release of Elysium today, citing delays in production. That movie was given RoboCop’s original release date, thus forcing RoboCop to be delayed lest Sony be competing with itself on opening weekend. Which version of events is true is anyone’s guess, but the studio also tapped its Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs sequel for a mid-September spot in 2013, meaning that RoboCop presumably could have gone there instead of being pushed back six months. There can be any number of reasons for that kind of thing–after all, the first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs opened in the early fall and did well enough to justify a sequel–but given the negative buzz around RoboCop, Sony had to know that a move this big would likely hurt pre-release word-of-mouth.

The film stars The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman as the title character, and a number of superstar actors in supporting roles around him.