We started today’s news with “this is a shame,” and I’ll reiterate that just a few hours later: this is a shame. As much as it saddens me, BoxOfficeMojo informs us that John Hillcoat‘s Wettest County has been moved from its original date of April 20th to August 31st. Not the end of the world, but for a film that was supposed to hit at the end of 2011 and then got pushed to the spring, this latest development is bound to induce some groans.

Yet, though I’d prefer to see the movie in three and a half months and not almost eight, this decision makes total sense on the Weinstein Company’s part. April 20th is a pretty crowded day for wide releases — House at the End of the Street, Lockout, The Lucky One, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and something called Chimpanzee all hit. August 30th, on the other hand, only brings 7500 and The Possession, or the typical horror fare that hits around Labor Day. (Weinstein was also supposed to open Scary Movie 5 on April 20th, but that hasn’t shot a single frame. Let’s be serious here.)

The cops and criminals, Prohibition-flavored events that star Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, and Mia Wasikowska has the potential to blow those other two openers out of the box office water, depending on how they sell it. (Coming less than a month and a half after The Dark Knight Rises, which stars both Oldman and Hardy, could be used to County‘s advantage.) Good on it for that; I still want to see the thing right away.

Is this change in date a nuisance to you? Do you care about Wettest County?