Date: 6/7/99
Source: Universal Pictures/Company Press Release

Universal Pictures to Move Up Release of 'Mystery Men' to Friday, July 30

Universal Pictures has set a July 30th release for its comedy ``Mystery Men,'' the Lawrence Gordon/Lloyd Levin/Dark Horse production. The film stars Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo, Wes Studi and Kel Mitchell as seven aspiring superheroes, each possessing a unique-- and bizarre -- superpower, who band together to save Champion City.

The film also stars Academy Award® winner Geoffrey Rush, who is joined by Greg Kinnear, Claire Forlani, Lena Olin, Eddie Izzard, Tom Waits and Pras. Kinka Usher, DGA commercial director of the year, makes his feature film directorial debut.

In making the announcement, Universal Pictures' President of Distribution Nikki Rocco explained, ``I saw the film last week with only one-third of the visual effects completed, and my immediate reaction was, this is fabulous -- a big, mind-blowing summer comedy that delivers big laughs and is different from anything else in the marketplace. And after seeing such a positive audience reaction, we decided to move the film up from the August 6th release date to give us one more week of summer play.''

Stacey Snider, president of production, added, ``We are thrilled that the producers and director have been able to meet the post-production needs in order to have 'Mystery Men' ready for the 30th of July. The film is truly a unique summer comedy that audiences will love.''

``Mystery Men'' was written by Neil Cuthbert based on the Dark Horse Comic Book Series created by Bob Burden, and produced by Lawrence Gordon, Mike Richardson and Lloyd Levin.