A few release date changes and announcements are being made.

• Sony Pictures Classics has announced that director Richard Linklater’s fantastic sequel Before Midnight will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on May 24th.  The film reunites Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as we again pick up with the characters from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.  Read Matt’s positive review from Sundance here.
• Director Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, I’m So Excited, is also getting the limited treatment, as the pic will open in New York and Los Angeles on June 28th.  Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Paz Vega star.
• The comedy Last Vegas is being moved up from December 20th to November 1st.  The film stars Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, and Morgan Freeman, and will face off against the sci-fi adaptation Ender’s Game in wide release.
• Finally, Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine will open in NY and LA on July 26th.  The film stars Cate Blanchette, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, and Louis C.K.

Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was director Sergio Castellitto‘s Twice Born.  Based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Mazzantini, the film stars Penelope Cruz as a single mother who returns with her teen son to present-day Sarajevo where her son’s father (Emile Hirsch) died during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s.  As she tries to repair the relationship with her son, new revelations force her to rethink everything.  The film also stars Mira Fulran and Jane Birkin and you can watch the first trailer here.

Before the world premiere, I landed an exclusive interview with Penelope Cruz.  We talked about a broad array of things, such as premiering at TIFF, social networking and email, why she wanted to make Twice Born, the type of research she does for a role, rehearsals, how many takes she likes to do and the way Woody Allen works, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Pedro Almovodar‘s I’m So Excited (where she finally works with  Antonio Banderas) and more.  In addition, with Cruz currently filming Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor, we talked about why she signed on to the project and who she plays.  Hit the jump for the audio and transcript.

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that it has acquired North American rights to writer/director Pedro Almodovar’s next film, I’m So Excited.  Plot details are firmly under wraps, but the pic is described as an ensemble comedy written and directed by the Talk to Her filmmaker.  The cast for I’m So Excited includes Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas, Raul Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Hugo Silva, and more, with “special collaborations” from Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Paz Vega.

Almodovar’s most recent film, last year’s The Skin I Live In, was met with a mixed yet enthusiastic response.  Production on I’m So Excited is scheduled to get underway next month for a release date sometime next year.  Hit the jump to read the press release, which includes the full cast list.