MacGruber Release Date Pushed Back

In a seemingly overwhelming vote of confidence in MacGruber, Universal Pictures has opted to push back MacGruber's release date from April 23 to May 21, so as it can go up against Shrek Forever After. Y'know Shrek, that massively successful movie franchise that has a pretty good record of earning bucketloads of money? Yeah. Universal thought it'd be wise to put MacGruber i.e a movie based on an SNL sketch, which historically have not done well box-office wise, against that.


Now look, I don't doubt that MacGruber is probably better than the likes of It's Pat or The Ladies Man, but really Universal? You think that a movie based on a cult sketch stands a chance against Shrek? I get that they have different audiences, but you're looking at going 2 weeks after Iron Man 2, and 1 week before Prince Of Persia/Sex and The City 2, at which point MacGruber is doomed to get swallowed up by the incoming tide of competition. It's like you want it to fail.

As Cinema Blend puts it, counter-programming almost never works, and I don't envision MacGruber being as successful as The Hangover, no matter what ill thought-out strategy you apply, Universal.


Right now, all I have to say is - Oi.