Lionsgate has decided to move the premiere of Frank Miller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit from January 16th, 2009 to December 25th 2008.  The move demonstrates the studio’s confidence in the film, which should benefit from debuting during the holidays.  Of course The Spirit will face more competition with its new opening, though the two films that open on the same day are comedies, Disney’s Bedtime Stories starring Adam Sandler, and Fox’s Marley and Me with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston.

Moving the debut of The Spirit to the holidays should be a boon to retailers since there will be potentially a lot of tie-in merchandise including The Spirit Archives, The Spirit Femmes Fatale reprints and two volumes of the new Spirit series from DC Comics, plus a range of The Spirit toys from Dark Horse (see “Dark Horse Has ‘The Spirit’ Toys”).