'300' sequel delayed by seven months

The long-awaited sequel to Zack Snyder's '300' has had its release date postponed for seven months. '300: Rise of an Empire' will now be released on March 7, 2014 rather than on its originally planned date of August 2, 2013.

This means that the follow-up comes almost exactly seven years after the original which was released in March 2007. No explanation has been given for the delay.

The film, again based on a Frank Miller graphic novel ('Xerxes'), looks at the back story of the Persian god-king who was fought by Gerard Butler and his Spartan cohorts in the first movie.

This time the director is Noam Murro ('Smart People') who says that the film is still about the few vs the many: "… It’s hundreds vs. hundreds of thousands. It’s about taking on the mightiest power of all with wisdom and tactics. … Themistokles is battle-scarred and a warrior, but at the same time he’s a politician. He’s not the king. He has to rule in a democracy. It’s a different complexity of character."

However he's keen to point out that it won't be a simple re-hash of Snyder's original:

"This is not a duplicate movie or a cookie-cutter. It’s a very different story to tell in keeping with the original flavor of 300.”

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'300: Rise of an Empire' joins other titles which have been announced as delayed projects this week. Also arriving late will be the Tom Cruise vehicle, 'All You Need is Kill' which is pushed back four months to June, 2014 and Genndy Tartakovsky‘s animated 'Popeye' movie which looks set to now appear in 2015.