Fox changes date for Reese Witherspoon’s ‘This Means War’ again, now opens Feb. 17

Fox has continued to have problems with This Means War, the new film directed by Terminator Salvation’s McG and starring Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. After changing the film’s Presidents’ Day weekend release date to Valentine’s Day, the studio was dealt a blow by being forced to cut jokes to get a PG-13 rating. Now, the studio has decided to change the date to Feb. 17 so it does not have to compete with Rachel McAdams’ The Vow, which opens Feb. 10.

According to Variety, Sony’s The Vow, a drama directed by Michael Sucsy and co-starring Channing Tatum, has been tracking well with early preview audiences, something that caught Fox off-guard as it was not expected to be so well received.

Meanwhile, This Means War has not been doing as well with tracking, reports Deadline, so Fox has changed their plans again. The romantic action comedy will now be given limited sneak preview screenings on Feb. 14 in the hope that word-of-mouth will give it a strong opening on Feb. 17. Fox’s move is surprising, considering Valentine’s Day is next Tuesday, giving Fox just a week to advertise the new date on television. The new move is so sudden that Fox has yet to change the date on the film’s website.

The last problem for This Means War came last month with its rating. Fox was hoping that the film would get a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, but it was instead given an R rating thanks to sex jokes by Chelsea Handler. According to The Hollywood Reporter, insiders said that Fox agreed to trim Handler’s jokes in order to get the PG-13 rating.