DreamWorks has firmed up its release date plans for the 2011.  The biggest (albeit unsurprising) change has Steven Spielberg's War Horse moving from August 10th into the prime of awards season at December 28th.  However, this will also position Spielberg as his own competition since his The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is set to open on December 23rd (DreamWorks doesn't have a stake in Tintin).  For those just tuning in, War Horse is based on a young adult novel about a horse trying to get back to his owner during World War I.

Also opening on the 23rd is Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo starring Matt Damon.  Two days earlier you have David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and on the 26th you have the untitled Muppets movie.   Hit the jump for release date news regarding DreamWorks' upcoming films Fright Night, Real Steel, and The Help.

Variety's report also includes 2011 release date info for Craig Gillespie's 3D Fright Night remake, Shawn Levy's Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman, and the drama The Help.

DreamWorks is setting The Help for August 12th since the similarly female-driven films Eat, Pray, Love and Julie & Julia found success around the same weekend.  The only other film currently occupying that weekend is the comedy 30 Minutes or Less which stars Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari, and was directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland).  Based off the novel by Kathryn Stockett and directed by Tate Taylor, The Help stars Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Viola Davis.

A week later, DreamWorks is releasing the 3D remake of Fright Night which stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, and Toni Collette.  The other two films coming out the weekend of August 19th are the Screen Gems comedy Skank Robbers starring Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx, and Robert Rodriguez' Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World starring Jessica Alba and Joel McHale.

Finally, Real Steel has been moved from November 18th to October 7th "in order to give the Hugh Jackman event pic room to grow and play into the holiday frame." Considering that almost no films have legs these days, I'm skeptical it will play into "holiday frame".  In any event, its only competition the weekend of the 7th (thus far) is the David Wain comedy Wanderlust starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston.  There was also this little movie called "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I" opening November 18th so I'm curious if that may have had anything to do with the move.