Photo: Courtesy of Universal

Variety reports today that Universal has moved the release of Paul Greengrass's Matt Damon–starring Iraq-war drama (and former ostensible Best Picture contender) Green Zone from this fall all the way to March 12. Why? Maybe it's no good! But more likely, after the box-office failures of Land of the Lost, Public Enemies, and Brüno, Universal just couldn't withstand another flop in 2009 (and Green Zone, about the fruitless search for WMDs, hardly seems like a blockbuster). Or maybe, Jeffrey Wells speculates, the studio saw the awards buzz for The Hurt Locker and doubted whether the Academy, even with ten slots to fill this year, would nominate more than one war movie. We'd like to think Universal was also considering how difficult it would be for Hugh Jackman to compose two songs about Iraq for his opening number at next year's ceremony.

U sets new date for 'Wolfman' [Variety]