Following Nikki Finke’s report that pre-production on Halloween 3-D has been halted and therefore the film has been delayed, much of the discussion focused on whether or not it had something to do with The Weinstein Co.’s money troubles and/or possibility of a takeover by Summit Entertainment.

All I could think of, though, was maybe the 3-D threequel can now actually be appropriately released around the time of its namesake holiday rather than in a summer month. The report did after all note that TWC/Dimension is properly re-releasing Halloween II, which underperformed when it opened late last month, on the weekend of October 31st — at least for midnight shows, anyway.

It was actually a bad summer for wrongly released holiday-titled films, as Nia Vardalos’ I Hate Valentine’s Day did poor business in a few theaters when IFC debuted the romantic comedy in July. So what if it has a title that’s anti Valentine’s Day? It should still have been released in February.

And movies in the Halloween franchise should be released in October. I don’t care if horror is supposed to do well in August or if all four installments since Dimension acquired the rights to the series have come out earlier than October. Thankfully I’m not the only person who thinks it’s been stupid of them to put these films out in the summer.

Check out what other film blogs think of the Halloween 3-D delay after the jump:

• Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood shares the Weinstein Co.’s official reason for halting H3D development:
  

  I understand that Bob Weinstein shut down H3D pre-production “because Bob just felt it was rushing too fast.” Now Dimension plans to start the film after My Bloody Valentine 3D helmer Lussier is free. (After all, the film editor got his directing start making Dracula 2000 for the Weinsteins.)

• ShockTillYouDrop.com has a confirmation from Patrick Lussier:
  

  Update… Lussier has confirmed this for us saying they had a small window to move on the film. So it has been delayed a bit.

• Lane Brown at Vulture is dubious of the sudden change in TWC’s methods and reasoning:
  

  Despite what you’re thinking, Finke says it’s not because the Weinsteins are out of money; Bob just thought the movie was “rushing too fast.” We don’t remember that being a problem for Inglourious Basterds, though.

• Krystal Clark at ScreenCrave leans toward believing there was at least some money issues involved with the decision:
  

  Speaking of Lussier, there’s also a rumor going around that he was in a budget battle with the studio over 2.5 million dollars. As of late, the Weinstein Co. hasn’t exactly been rolling in dough, so that story’s not so far fetched.

• Merrick at Ain’t It Cool News recognizes that the reality in these situations is usually somewhere in the middle of what the company claims and what is our negative presumption of the truth:
  

  So, is H3-D a casualty of The Weinstein Co’s struggling finances? Did The Powers That Be suddenly develop a conscience re: “rushing” a project into production? Or, is the truth somewhere in between?

• Kyle Buchanan at Movieline sarcastically takes TWC’s word for it:
  

  The given reason for the shutdown is so logical and counter to traditional Hollywood thinking — the script wasn’t ready — that it has naturally sparked another round of rumors that the Weinsteins have no money.

• Ramses Flores at Collider is not interested in presuming there’s more to this story:
  

  It’s easy (and fun) to read into this surprising bit of news, but I’m going to just stick with the reason that Weinstein is giving.  It’s hard to really believe that this is the real reason behind the film all of a sudden being put on hold, but I’m going to pretend that good producers who really do care about their film still exist in Hollywood and that this is really all true.  I’m also going to be naive about this one just because trying to figure out what is going on with the Weinstein brothers these days seems like a frustrating waste of time to me right now.

• Adam Rosenberg at MTV Movies Blog thinks the Weinsteins are simply being smart, thankfully:
  

  I have to say, the brothers Weinstein are making some smart business maneuvers these days. Say what you will about Bob’s desire to return to franchises and what that means for originality — or the lack thereof — in Hollywood. It was still a shrewd move to assault us all with a litany of upcoming sequels and remakes for popular classics like “Children of the Corn,” “Spy Kids” and “Scanners” (I’m still reeling at that last one). There was quite a bit of (I think intended) shock value in that announcement; clearly, the Weinsteins are hoping to recapture some of the glory that made Miramax such a powerhouse.

• Christopher Monfette at IGN speculates about the length of the delay:
  

  Difficult to say what the real motivations might have been, but it looks fairly confirmed that we won’t be seeing another Halloween film in the very near future. It’s possible that with another director, or some miracle back-to-back scheduling, that it might drop in time for an October 2010, but that’s only pure speculation on our part.

• Katey Rich at Cinema Blend seems to hope the delay turns into complete abandonment:
  

  Apparently the plan now is to wait until director Patrick Lussier is available following work on his next film, which could make H3D’s shoot start sometime in the spring. That is, provided they don’t spend the time between now and then realizing how poor an idea this was to begin with, and shutting the thing down entirely.

• Sean at Film Junk addresses the Halloween II re-release and the reason the series might have been avoiding the holiday lately:
  

  The stranger part of the story, however, is that TWC will also apparently be re-releasing Halloween II in theatres for a limited engagement and special midnight screenings around Halloween. People have often wondered why the rebooted franchise has stuck to late summer releases thus far, but perhaps the Saw franchise isn’t as invincible as it once was? Halloween II has made just $32 million to date, so I suppose anything that might squeeze a few more dollars out of the movie is a good idea.

• Erik Davis at Cinematical also comments on the re-release and why TWC didn’t initially open H2 at the appropriate time:
  

  Part of that reasoning was due to not wanting to compete with the Saw franchise, and when the first Halloween killed (no pun intended) at the box office in August, it was pretty obvious the Weinstein boys would once again try their luck then instead of at the end of October. I’d be curious to see if the re-release decision pays off, and kids looking for a theme and some uneven scares will crowd the multiplex instead of spray shaving cream all over their neighbor’s brand new Mercedes.

• Peter Hall at Horror Squad criticizes TWC’s decision to re-release H2:
  

  So what’s the Weinstein’s plan of action? Put the intriguing Halloween 3D on the back burner and put the critically hated and commercially limp Halloween II into theaters a second time. Because, ya’ know, apparently no one told them it was word-of-mouth (and general disinterest) that killed it at the box office. Now, a cynic like me will say that the American movie-going public has a very short memory, but even I think it’s not that short. Come October people will look up showtimes on a Friday night and ask a buddy, “Didn’t that terrible Halloween II movie come out two months ago?”

• Ethan Anderton at FirstShowing adds to the criticism that H2 should have come out next month anyway:
  

  It’s probably good that Dimension and the Weinstein’s are taking a bit of a breather because it sounds like they’re not holding up too well (apparently there’s been talk about Summit Entertainment using a chunk of their money from The Twilight Saga to purchase TWC sometime). Either way, Dimension will be trying to cover their recent financial loss by re-releasing Rob Zombie’s H2: Halloween II on the trick-or-treat holiday weekend in October, which is really when it should’ve been released from the start anyway.

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com also adds to the criticism by focusing on the overall release strategy:
  

  So, after the bright idea of releasing Halloween II on a date that wasn’t Halloween and pitting it against a franchise with more goodwill and a bigger gimmick, the decision is made to follow it up with a half-assed midnight release against the monolithic Saw franchise? TWC will definitely soak a few more dollars out of the film, but I can’t help but wonder if an original release date on a less competitive weekend or a full resourced push to reclaim their franchise’s namesake holiday would have been wiser in the long run.