Shutter Island and Clash of the Titans: better late than never

If you find it tough to complete the simplest of household chores without getting waylaid by an impromptu four-hour Pro Evo session, then imagine how hard it is to pull a mega-budget film together while adhering to a strict schedule handed down from on high. Today we have updates on two high-profile movie lollygaggers, with the international trailer for Clash of the Titans and a TV spot for Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.

Of those two flicks, the delays to hit Clash of the Titans are by far the most minor. Warner Bros. and director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) had long been committed to delivering their update on the 1981 Harryhausen-endowed mythic adventure of the same name for a release date of 26 March this year. This would not only have ensured that they were pretty much the first blockbuster to hit theatres in 2010 (the similarly-themed Percy Jackson movie is out sooner, but seems unlikely to encroach too heavily on the action crowd that Titans appears to be angling for), it would also have meant that Leterrier's all-star affair would be opening in the precise same window of the year that delivered such stellar box-office returns for the Warners-distributed 300 in 2007.

This latter point seems an important one, because while such an omen may appear an irrelevance to a normal human being, to a movie exec who has staked their continuing career on a particular film's success, it must look very significant indeed. 300 featured a lot of chiselled macho hunks waving their swords around in a special-effects heavy, action-laden, MTV interpretation of one of the great tales of ancient civilisation. Meanwhile, Clash of the Titans seems to feature a lot of chiselled macho hunks waving their swords around in what looks like a special-effects heavy, action-laden, MTV interpretation of one of the great tales of ancient civilisation. Ergo, if one opened at a particular time of the year and was a monster hit, then so it follows that if the other opens at the same time of year then it too will be a hit of equivalent monstrosity. Why, by pursuing this vein of Johnnie Cochran reasoning we could probably knock up a quick doctoral thesis on why movie audiences will only watch sword-swinging epics in the last weekend of March.

However the problem with omens is when one butts up against another. What do you do when your tarot reader is telling you one thing and your astrologer something entirely different? Sack them both as a pair of useless charlatans and spend the money you subsequently save on gifts for your loved ones? Not bloody likely. The superstitious subject simply has to make a decision on which portent they are going to put their shirt on. And thus it has worked out for Clash of the Titans, with the recent success of Avatar having sent Hollywood what they believe is the most crystalline of clear messages: make films in 3D and they will gross $2b. Consequently Warners are now converting Titans into 3D, in order to soak up some of that Avatar golden goose magic, with that 'artistic' decision having forced Leterrier's movie to forfeit its 26 March opening.

Den of Geek, amongst others, reckons that the refitted Clash of the Titans will now invade theatres a week later, on 2 April, and ahead of that momentous cultural occasion, there is a new international trailer available to view (first seen at IGN). There is some fresh footage bound up in there somewhere, although the major impressions remain the same as those left by the previous US trailer: that the rock soundtrack is horrible; that the supposedly show-stopping Kraken is a deeply unimpressive CG spod; and that Liam Neeson's Zeus and Ralph Fiennes' Hades are not engaged in any fraternal mystic war for the very future of the Earth and Olympus alike, rather they are having a 'Who Can Dress Like the Biggest Berk?' contest. Which Neeson is currently winning, thanks to his tinfoil all-over body condom.

Making Clash of the Titans' seven day hold-up look like a mere burst of spume in seven seas of delay, audiences will finally get their chance to see Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island when it opens on 19 February. The film, a 50s-set thriller based on a novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane, had originally been due to open on 2 October last year, before it got shunted by Paramount in a move that instantly killed any awards hopes that it might have had. At the time Deadline Hollywood suggested that Paramount could not afford to give Shutter Island a $50-$60m marketing push in 2009, and also that the studio was hoping for signs of recovery in a DVD sales market that was seen as vital in ensuring Scorsese's flick turned a healthy profit on its lavish budget.

Whatever the truth in such chat, there was real disappointment over Paramount's decision to delay as Shutter Island looks a genuinely promising prospect. The story sees two US marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, both apparently set to fast-talking high-trousers mode) arriving at a remote island asylum where a female patient (Emily Mortimer) has seemingly vanished into thin air. A hurricane promptly hits the island and the shit promptly hits the fan, as DiCaprio tries to work out what in the name of Chris Waddle is going on, while getting spooked out by Ben Kingsley's creepy institution chief, Max von Sydow's sinister doc, and Jackie Earle Haley's whackjob inmate. Trying to build some buzz ahead of that fast-looming 19 February release date, a new TV spot for Shutter Island has debuted. Big on excitement and atmosphere, very sketchy on plot and character detail, it will have to suffice till we can see the full movie for ourselves.