It has only been a couple of months since the announcement of an animated remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas — but that’s time enough to now announce a full year delay to the project. The film will now come out for Christmas 2018.
Producers cite no official reason for the delay but industry speculation is that the original November 2017 release date was too ambitious in the first place.
But we have another theory.
Having watched Christmas movies come and go over the years the answer is quite simple: they only release Christmas movies at Christmastime any more.
If this were a normal movie it might make more sense to release it around Memorial Day. But it is a Christmas movie and as such there is only one acceptable window for release and when you can’t make it for whatever reason it gets delayed for another year.
The project enjoyed a boost of publicity with the announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch would voice the Grinch. Christmas purists, however, remain on alert knowing this film comes on the heels of a preachy and agenda driven Lorax production that to many stray too far from the Dr. Seuss original.
Ron Howard’s 2000 live action remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is similarly criticized for its bizarre subplot of the early life of the Grinch and the unpredictable antics of lead Jim Carrey.
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