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Since the moment Lionsgate announced that Frank Miller’s upcoming directorial work The Spirit, which is based on the classic comic by the great Will Eisner, was going to be released on January 16, 2009, I was perplexed. Following in the footsteps of Sin City and 300, The Spirit seems to be a very strong film. It has received solid buzz and a lot of excitement from fans of the comic-to-film genre, so why bury it with a January release?

It appears as though Lionsgate has finally got the message, sliding The Spirit into the Christmas Day release slot that was recently vacated by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, which moved to May 8th. No matter how the film turns out, this will be a very good move financially for the studio. Christmas is a prime release date and it still allots them plenty of time to rev up the marketing machine. The only real competition is Punisher: War Zone (December 5) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (December 12). Oh, and there is a little movie called Twilight hitting theaters on December 12, but I don’t imagine its demographic overlaps the demo for The Spirit very much.

For those who haven’t been following The Spirit, I would direct you toward the first teaser trailer, which we brought you a few weeks ago after it premiered at the New York Comic Con. And speaking of Comic Con, I anticipate The Spirit being one of the big draws in late-July when we hit the streets of San Diego, so stay tuned.

Also, check out the first teaser poster below: