A few release date shifts/announcements have been made.  Briefly:

• The Way, Way Back – This comedy/drama from the writers of The Descendants was one of the largest acquisitions from Sundance, and the Steve Carell-starrer is set to open in limited release on July 5th of this year.  Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, and Allison Janney.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Turkeys – Relativity Media and Reel FX’s animated comedy has been moved up a full year from November 2014 to this coming November 1st.  The pic features the voices of Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler and will open opposite the comedy Last Vegas and the sci-fi adaptation Ender’s Game.
• We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks – Director Alex Gibney’s documentary about the WikiLeaks scandal premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival and will open in limited release on May 24th.
• The Longest Ride – Yes, another Nicholas Sparks feature film adaptation is on the way.  This book isn’t even out yet, but the film now has a release date of February 13, 2015.

Identity Thief is the hilarious new comedy, from director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and screenwriter Craig Mazin (The Hangover 2), that follows what happens to a regular guy when he is forced to extreme measures to clear his name after a woman who loves to live it up steals his identity and ruins his life.  When Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Jason Bateman) is accused of a series of crimes, the innocent man realizes that a woman named Diana (Melissa McCarthy) is using his ID to do and buy whatever strikes her fancy, and decides to track the woman down and confront her, in order to get his life and name back.

At the film’s press day, Craig Mazin spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how he came to the project, collaborating with Jason Bateman on the idea and tone for the film, and how it affects his writing process to know which actors he’s writing for.  He also talked about the experience of being a part of the highly successful The Hangover franchise, whether he and Todd Phillips took the criticism of the second film into account when writing The Hangover Part III, making films for audiences to enjoy, and the animated feature Turkeys (featuring the voices of Amy Poehler, Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson), which he’s writing and producing.

Identity Thief is the hilarious new comedy, from director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and screenwriter Craig Mazin (The Hangover II), that follows what happens to a regular guy (played by Jason Bateman) when he is forced to extreme measures to clear his name after a woman (played by Melissa McCarthy) who loves to live it up steals his identity and ruins his life.

At the press day for the film, Collider spoke to Craig Mazin about making the film, finding the right tone, and the importance of keeping the heart in the story.  While we will run that portion of the interview closer to the film’s February 8th theatrical release date, we did want to share what he had to say about the experience of being a part of the highly successful The Hangover franchise, whether he and Todd Phillips took the criticism of the second film into account when writing The Hangover 3, making films for audiences to enjoy, an the animated feature Turkeys (he reveals Amy Poehler has joined the cast which also featuring the voices of Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson), which he’s writing and producing.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

We have plenty of new release dates to pass along:

• Sony Animation scheduled two Genndy Tartakovsky’s projects.  The 3D cartoon Popeye that Tartakovsky will direct hits theaters September 26, 2014.  The sequel to Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania opens the following year on September 25, 2015.
• Relativity scheduled fellow cartoon Turkeys—featuring the voices of Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Dan Fogler—for a Thanksgiving release on November 14, 2014.
• The Last Exorcism II: The Beginning of the End is dated for March 1, 2013.
• The Aubrey Plaza comedy The To-Do List will move from Valentines Day next year to August 16, 2013.  Relativity took advantage of the open slot and moved the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven from February 8 back to February 14, 2013.

Hit the jump for details on each project.

While a Woody Harrelson-Owen Wilson on screen team-up has great comedic potential, we’ll have to settle for their voices instead.  EW reports that the two will play animated turkeys, Reggie and Brock, who discover a time machine and travel back to the first Thanksgiving to take themselves off the menu.  I sympathize with the characrters’ plight, but I don’t agree with their mission because turkeys are delicious.

Luke Wilson will also voice one of the turkeys, which will be a nice change of pace from me feeling sorry for him when I see his AT&T commercials.

Peter Farrelly of the Farrelly Brothers (There’s Something About Mary) will executive produce and directed by Ash Brannon (Surf’s Up and co-director of Toy Story 2).