EXCLUSIVE: G.I. Joe Retaliation moves again

G.I. Joe Retaliation already made a drastic date change when Paramount moved the sequel from 2012 to 2013, raising eyebrows and speculation about the possible motives from quality of the movie to the need to increase Channing Tatum's presence from nearly nothing to a starring role.

Now news is coming from the studio that the date is once again changing, albeit only slightly this time.  The movie will move from it's original Friday March 29 date to one day earlier on March 28.  The move is especially odd seeing that Thursday releases are generally saved for summer, holiday and Star Wars movies as school-year Thursday releases tend not to attract a wide audience.

The reason for the move is anyone's guess.  Generally tiny moves like this are a result of studio's backing down from competition but the only competition that weekend is The Host (a completely different audience) and Tyler Perry's Marriage Counseler (also a completely different audience).  Another possible reason is to pad one extra day in, giving it 8 full days before the similarly 80s throwback of Evil Dead opens on April 5, but unless there are tracking numbers I haven't seen, that also doesn't make much sense.

The only other culprit? A Thursday release makes box office comparisons almost impossible so if G.I. Joe Retaliation has a mediocre opening, it is very difficult to compare it to similar releases, similar weekends or say that it is a weak opening since it would have burned off the front-load on Thursday, leaving prognosticators in limbo for the rest of the weekend.