The prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing was given a new release date to make time for potential reshoots to “enhance existing sequences”. The original release date was in April — the new release date? October 14, 2011.

What’s the premise you ask? A scientific research team discovers an alien craft and accidentally unearths a shape-shifting alien. Paranoia grows within the team while infection slowly spreads.

It stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Jonathan Walker, Kim Bubbs, and Stig Henrik Hoff. The screenplay is by Eric Heisserer and Ronald D. Moore. It’s directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

There’s a lot of promise for the prequel for The Thing with Ronald D. Moore being one of the creative forces behind it. After all, he’s the one who created the highly successful Battlestar Galactica incarnation.

[Blastr]