Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Lionsgate, which acquired worldwide distribution rights to the horror film The Cabin in the Woods from MGM, has set it for release on Friday, April 13, 2012. Deadline revealed in April that Lionsgate would take over distribution of the film, and the distribution date was finalized by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Joe Drake and Jason Constantine, president of Acquisitions and Co-productions.

This really puts an end to a horrifically long delay on a film that has a great creative pedigree and a high degree of fanboy wanna-see, and it’s probably no coincidence the date was locked in time for Comic-Con. Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard directed the film and co-wrote it with The Avengers director Joss Whedon. The film’s cast includes Chris Hemsworth, who made it before he was set to star as the title character in Marvel’s Thor. The delay has little to do with the quality of the film. It was once slated to be released by MGM on Oct. 23, 2009, but was pulled back because it was going to be converted to 3D. Then, everything froze at MGM because of the strangling debt load, and The Cabin in the Woods was among several pictures that languished. By the time the picture is released, Thor will have established Hemsworth’s star value, which will certainly help a film that also stars Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford.

Hemsworth plays a young professional who visits a quaint cabin in the woods with a group of friends and ends up scratching the surface of something so massive and horrific that they can only begin to fathom it as time quickly runs out.