The upcoming third film in Paramount’s Ring series, Rings, has been moved from this April to Halloween. Originally intended for release on April 1, the film will now open October 28, making it prime to be a horror blockbuster for Halloween weekend.
Taking its place is the new Richard Linklater movie, Everybody Wants Some, a “spiritual successor” to Dazed And Confused. Everybody Wants Some was due for release April 15 on wide release but will now instead release April 1 on limited release.
A sequel to The Ring and The Ring 2, Rings is the first film in the horror franchise in over a decade. Directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez, Rings will follow new protagonist Holt, played by Alex Roe, as he and his girlfriend do battle with the vengeful spirit of the cassette Samara after Holt ends up watching the tape. Of the characters from the first two movies, only Aidan Keller, son of Naomi Watts’ Racehl Keller, is set to appear.
Rings being moved isn’t surprising considering we’ve seen nothing of the film yet. Building a promotional campaign against all the current comic book movies would mean fighting for airpsace, whereas in October there’s much less competition. The only other big budget films sharing that weekend are an untitled horror picture from Lionsgate and Ron Howard‘s newest Dan Brown adaptation, Inferno, neither of which present much of a threat.
The Ring is a remake of Hideo Nakata‘s 1998 Japanese pseudo-ghost story Ringu, about young girl Samara whose vengeful spirit becomes tied to a cassette after she’s routinely abused. Ringu itself is legendary, the remake and its successor not so much. With a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, perhaps Rings can change that.
