Tom Cruise's Baton Rouge-shot 'Oblivion' gets a new release date

Tom Cruise's Baton-Rouge shot "Oblivion" has a new release date, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Universal-backed sci-fi thriller will now open a week earlier than previously planned, on April 19, 2013.

AP photoActor Tom Cruise's Louisiana-shot sci-fi thriller 'Oblivion' will open a week earlier than planned, on April 12, it has been announced.

The move -- which also includes an IMAX-only sneak peek even a week earlier, on April 12 -- puts the Joseph Kosinski-directed film on a weekend occupied so far only by the horror-comedy sequel "Scary Movie 5."

"Oblivion" was one of three films to get new release dates in a recent announcement by Universal: Director Ron Howard's previously undated Formula 1 racing film "Rush" will open on Sept. 30, 2013. Also, the Guillermo del Toro-produced supernatural thriller "Mama" has been penciled in for a Jan. 18 release.

"Oblivion" shot for a short time in New Orleans, although the bulk of its March-to-May Louisiana shoot was spent at Baton Rouge's Raleigh Studios.

The film tells the story of a military veteran who - after a court martial - is sentenced to travel to another planet and exterminate the alien race living there. It co-stars Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.