Lionsgate Gets Christmas Spirit

According to Variety, Lionsgate has moved up the release date of Frank Miller's The Spirit. The adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic character was originally slated for a January 16, 2009 release date. Now it will be featured as a Christmas 2008 release.

Tom Ortenberg, Lionsgate president of theatrical films, announced that the move to Christmas Day came after the project was presented to fans at New York Comic-Con. The stylish teaser trailer for the film has become a hit with a lot of good Internet buzz.

The Spirit is a classic action-adventure-romance. It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he's going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality.