The Montana madness continues! Now that the writer's strike is resolved, Variety reports that Disney is the latest studio to revamp their schedule and stake out some prime release dates.

Among their 2009 and 2010 releases will be The Hannah Montana Movie, to be released on May 1st, 2009 and pitted against 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Wolverine versus Hannah Montana. I'm laughing just thinking about it. I want someone to make a comic book cover of this right now. (Seriously. I will frame it.) My money is on Wolverine to actually win that battle, but who knows what incredible powers Montana may possess.

All sarcasm aside, I imagine this will actually be a very good move by Disney. Moms and daughters can go watch Hannah Montana, while their fathers and brothers go see Wolverine. The whole family wins!
Now, just to clarify, what is currently in theatres now (and causing some scandal) is not really a Hannah Montana movie. That was a live concert. This is a two hour version of the television show. That's why it's The Hannah Montana Movie and not, say, Hannah Montana II: Montana Strikes Back. I know, it seems like there's been ten movies already.

Do you think the Hannah Montana craze will still be going in 2009? Young fans can be so fickle.

Disney was less confident in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and is releasing it a month earlier on June 16th, 2009, rather than on July 10th. This saves it from being released in the wake of Paramount's Transformers 2 (June 26th, 2009) and Ice Age III (July 1, 2009). This has to lower expectations for Prince of Persia if Disney fears competition from Ice Age III.

Thankfully, this isn't the only thing on Disney's schedule. April 10th, 2009 will be claimed by Old Dogs, director Walt Becker's follow-up to Wild Hogs. Despite the rhyming titles and presence of John Travolta, Old Dogs is not a sequel to the middle aged motorcycle caper. Travolta will be joined this time by Robin Williams, playing middle-aged friends and business partners left caring for 7 year old twins. I am sure there will be many hilarious misunderstandings that they are a gay couple.

Thanksgiving 2009 sees the release of Surrogates, a sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Willis as a cop in a world where humans live in isolation and interact via surrogate robots. Willis is forced to leave his home to investigate the murder of several surrogates. Amazingly, this film lacks a Blade Runner comparison.

But the biggest and most interesting film Disney dated was Tim Burton's 3-D Alice in Wonderland, which is set to be released on March 19th, 2010. If only this was the film Disney was moving up instead of Prince of Persia! Still, it is comforting to know that if we can all just survive Hannah Montana, there will be something truly (potentially?) awesome on the horizon.