In a somewhat surprising move, Sony has bumped the release of the upcoming Kevin James comedy Zookeeper from its scheduled October 8, 2010 release date all the way to July 8, 2011. The studio, which acquired the distribution rights to the film from co-producer MGM last month, said the movie — in which James acts alongside a score of animated animals voiced by the likes of Adam Sandler and Cher — scored “some of the highest [test-screening scores] they’ve ever seen.” Assessing that they had a potential summer blockbuster on their hands, they moved the film to next summer, squeezing it between the release of Transformers 3 (July 1) and the final Harry Potter movie (July 15). If a Kevin James movie can garner test scores this high despite a plethora of (presumably) chirpy, annoying animals, then this bodes very well for James’s upcoming Ron Howard “cheating” flick with Vince Vaughn.
Sony moves upcoming Kevin James comedy ‘Zookeeper’ into summer 2011 [Hollywood Insider/EW]
