SEVEN SWORDS RELEASE SKED

According to this story, Tsui Hark's SEVEN SWORDS will get a July 29 release in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia and it's already in negotiations for a North American release. Two things:

1 - almost every movie ever made has been in discussions for a North American release at one time or another. My guess is that any potential buyer has to think about whether they want to go up against the Weinstein Brothers December release of Chen Kaige's THE PROMISE.

2 - a July 29 release in Asia beats the Venice screening date by almost a month, and seems like a really bad idea. Take a page from SPL, dudes: hanging onto a movie and keeping it out of theaters just builds anticipation, not destroys it. This early release may also kill the chance of a US theatrical release.

Read some thoughts on the SEVEN SWORDS trailer here.

(Thanks to Chelle at the Donnie Yen fansite)