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One of the most talked-about films of the fall (due to its popular run on the festival circuit) is Jason Reitman's Juno. I've heard from several different people that it's "this year's Little Miss Sunshine," and I have yet to meet one person who did not like it. With lots and lots of buzz, Fox Searchlight has decided to push Juno's release date up a bit to capitalize on all the good word, deciding to send their baby out into the world on December 5 (in NY and LA only, before tacking on additional theaters across the country in the weeks to follow). The film was originally set to arrive in limited release on December 14. For those of you who are dying to see Juno, and do not live in either NY or LA, fear not -- Searchlight has set up a number of free promotional screenings in several different cities.

Ah, but if you live in NYC, and want to take advantage of those free promotional screenings, your sh*t out of luck -- they're all booked. Seriously, I took a look at the list and every other screening across the country is open except the four or so screenings in NYC. What gives? Do people in NYC just watch more movies than everyone else? And are they hipper to the stuff that's free? Who knows, and perhaps Searchlight will add a few more screenings in the Big Apple. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) Juno stars Ellen Page as a teenager who's accidentally knocked up by her awkward best friend (Michael Cera), and subsequently decides to give the child away to an adorable-looking married couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). For more on the film, and to check out the trailer, head on over to Juno's official website.

Although my birthday present from Fox Searchlight arrived a bit late, it was well worth the wait -- Cinematical was just informed (via a press release) that Danny Boyle's Sunshine has had its release date pushed up to July 20; a move that put a huge smile on my face as we come to the end of a relatively tame Wednesday. For those slightly out of the loop on this one, Sunshine was originally supposed to be released this past March 16. And although the film arrived in theaters around the world (as planned) Fox Searchlight delayed its release here in the states, subsequently pushing it all the way back to December. To say us Boyle fans were a tad bummed out about that would be an understatement -- as our own Scott Weinberg proclaimed, "That's like walking into a kid's room on 12/15 and saying, 'Oh, we bumped Christmas back to September. Stop crying!'"

Fox provided no reason for either shift; originally, some of us thought that maybe they were prepping the flick for an Oscar run, but it didn't seem like the sort of film (futuristic sci-fi?) that Oscar voters chomp on for breakfast. Was it that bad that Fox wanted to re-tool the thing and hide it amongst a busy Compass-filled December? Not likely; the trailers rock, and the buzz has been pretty good. Nevertheless, I could care less at this point -- I just want to see the damn film as quickly as possible. In the pic, director Boyle and writer Alex Garland once again team up for a story about a group of astronauts (Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, Troy Garity, etc ...) who are sent to help re-ignite the sun after the sucker begins to burn out. Mark your calendars people. Sunshine. July 20. Awesome stuff!

Fox Searchlight sent over their summer preview today; there are stills for several of their upcoming films, including Day Watch, the highly-anticipated follow-up to the 2004 Russian horror film Night Watch and Waitress, the Keri Russell-starring romantic comedy that's most known so far for being the last project of filmmaker Adrienne Shelly, who was, sadly, murdered late last year. There are also some pics from Once, an Irish musical that made waves at Sundance 2007 and Joshua, a psychological thriller starring Vera Farmiga and Sam Rockwell. Fox threw in a couple of pics and notes from Sunshine as well, but they were so well known that I didn't bother including them. When Sunshine is finally released in this country, how are they going to market it to U.S. moviephiles that have already seen all the promotional material and read the reviews of the film in British and Aussie pubs? They better put their thinking caps on. After the pics, you can read some press notes for each film.