Lionsgate had tentative plans to release Machine Gun Preacher in the fall, but three other films -- Warrior, Abduction, and Safe -- will occupy the studio's resources with September/October release dates.  Relativity's fall is lighter, with Shark Night 3D in September and Immortals in November -- as newcomers to distribution, the studio is eager for product to push.  The schedules worked out such that, per Risky Business, Lionsgate will hand off the domestic release for Machine Gun Preacher to Relativity.  (Lionsgate will still handle international distribution.)  Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan in the biopic about Sam Childers, "a drug-dealing biker who found God and became an activist on behalf of child soldiers in Sudan.  Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) directed the $30 million independent production from a script by Jason Keller.  No official release date is set, but Machine Gun Preacher is still on the agenda for Fall 2011.

Hit the jump for details on Bastards, the latest acquisition at Paramount.

Justin Malen sold his spec script Bastards to Paramount today -- Montecito is on board to produce.  According to THR, the plot centers on "fraternal twin brothers who find out that their mother's been lying to them for years about their allegedly deceased father and thusly set out to find their real dad."  The story is described as a cross between The Hangover (because that's how you sell an R-rated comedy these days) and Flirting with Disaster (wherein Ben Stiller searches for his birth parents).

Malen is a fresh face whose first credit is still up in the air.  His comedy script Trophy Husbands is set up at MRC with Mike Judge attached to direct, and he recently did a rewrite on Time Out, another Paramount comedy.