Spielberg Bids to Dominate Christmas 2011 Box Office

Steven Spielberg will be playing Santa Claus at the U.S. box office next Christmas (11) - he's releasing two movies on the same day over the festive season.

World War I drama War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin The Secret ofthe Unicorn - both directed by Spielberg - will hit movie theatres in the U.S. on 28 December, 2011 and battle it out for big buck at the box office over the holiday season.

War Horse, starring David Thewlis and Emily Watson, was scheduled for release next summer (Aug11) but studio bosses at Dreamworks have pushed itback after screening footage in London last week (ends08Oct10).

Dreamworks Ceo Stacey Snider tells Daily Variety, "The reaction to the footage - which (Spielberg) never usually shows - was that it feels like a big, holiday movie".

And she insists the director isn't worried about competing with his ownmovie, adding, "He (Spielberg) feels great about it".

(IGKL) * KNOX'S LAWYERS REFUSE PANETTIERE VISIT Hayden Panettiere has been denied the chance to meet Amanda Knox before she takes her story to TV - lawyers for the jailed American student have rejected the actress' request for a prison visit.

The Heroes star has signed up to appear in The Amanda Knox Story, a TV movie based on the 21 year old's sensational Italian murder trial over the brutal killing of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

Last year (09), Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for slashing her friend's throat with a knife in 2007 during a violent night fuelled bysex and drugs.

Panettiere admits she is desperate to meet the woman she will be playing before filming starts in Rome, Italy at the end of the month (Oct10), but Knox's lawyers have refused her request.

She says, "I wish (I could meet her). I know the Italian government is being pretty protective of her, her lawyers are being protective of her, which is pretty understandable. It's something I would like to do (meet her) but I'd be more surprised if it happened than if it didn't".

The jailed American's attorneys have already objected to the film, insisting the story should not be "exploited" for entertainment while an appeal is still pending, and they won't let Panettiere meet their client.

Knox's lawyer Carlo Della Vedova says, "There is no way that this actress can meet with Amanda while she is in jail. Amanda knows about the filmbecause she read about it in the newspaper but she is not in agreement with it and she is surprised".

Panettiere is aware of the controversy surrounding the project, but insists it won't have an impact on production.

She adds, "It's a really great story and a very controversial one. The way the script is written is very well done, in a way that I don't think anyone is going to have a problem with... It only takes place up until she was convicted. I know her appeal is coming up pretty soon too so it should be interesting to see what is going to happen with that".