Walt Disney and DreamWorks have set a 2/18/2011 release date for director D.J. Caruso's (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) Sci-Fi Adventure I Am Number Four.  Set to star Alex Pettyfer (Beastly), the film is about nine earthbound aliens who escaped their planet just before it was annihilated by a rival species. Hiding out on Earth, disguised as a human teenager in high school, the title character discovers that he is being hunted by the enemy that destroyed his planet.  More after the jump:

When I first heard about the release date, I figured there had to be a mistake, as they haven't started shooting the movie and it's scheudled to come out in ten months and on the same day as another sci-fi movie, Battle: Los Angeles!  But I spoke to Disney and they've confirmed the date.  I'm going to take a guess and say one of the films is going to blink.

I Am Number Four is based on the James Frey and Jobie Hughes novel of the same name and it will be published in the fall.  The script was written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) and it's going to be produced by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg and Exec. Produced by David Valdes, Chris Bender, J.C. Spink.

With production gearing up in the near future, I'd expect a lot more announcements on casting very soon.  Disney has already launched a Facebook fan page here.