'Life of Pi' Moves Back One Week to Avoid 'Hobbit' Film

5:37 PM PDT 6/1/2011 by Pamela McClintock

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The movie, directed by Ang Lee, will now be released on Dec. 21, 2012.

No studio is going to take on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit if they can help it.

'The Hobbit' Films Get Titles and Release Dates

On Monday, New Line and Warner Bros. revealed the titles and release dates of Jackson’s two pics, announcing that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters on Dec. 14, 2012, while The Hobbit: There and Back Again opens Dec. 13, 2013.

By Wednesday, 20th Century Fox had pushed back the release of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi by one week, from Dec. 14, 2012 to Dec. 21, 2012, so as to get out of the way of Hobbit.

It’s not a bad move for Life of Pi, considering it will have two weeks of prime holiday playtime.

Already set to open on Dec. 21, 2012 was Relativity Media’s political action-thriller Hunter Killer from director Phillip Noyce and Universal's untitled Judd Apatow comedy.