It was slated for a December release, at the height of awards contention, the junkets were actually scheduled for around right now…but then about a month ago, The Other Boleyn Girl disappeared off the circuit, yanked by the studio with no explanation, and slotted instead for a February release – no man’s land.

By industry standards, this does not bode well and usually means the movie sucks ass, so to save it, to salvage some box office draw – albeit limited – the studio has decided to pit the film against other weak releases…

Apparently part of the problem was that they tinkered too far with the original plot – as my producer Laura said today:

“I"m really surprised they changed the plot because the novel was scandalous and shocking in a way that would translate perfectly on film. And the book was already written for the "masses". It"s not a pulitzer prize winning manuscript. If bookclubs around the world can appreciate it, I don"t think you need to dumb it down any further - but it appears that they did just that. Since when is their mother sympathetic?”

Indeed. And it looks like they just might downplay Anne’s icky with her brother too.

However…all is not lost.

Click here for the trailer, the best part of which is Eric Bana – still not my mind’s Henry but holy quiver…Bana is much, much, much hotter than expected. And the facial hair does well to hide his too thin lips, though his nose is really rather lacking. Look at it from the side when he’s telling Anne she ruined him. See what I mean?

Still…Eric’s love scenes with that horny minx Scarlett Johansson look promising. And if he gets it on like that with Natalie too, The Other Boleyn Girl might just be worth the DVD.