'True Grit' release moved up three days to December 22

LOS ANGELES  - Joel and Ethan Coen's "True Grit" update will come out three days earlier than planned on December 22, Paramount said Tuesday.

The Western, which stars Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges in the iconic role that won John Wayne an Oscar in 1969, will now hit theaters on Wednesday to get an early jump on the long holiday weekend.

The move could be a sign of the studio's confidence in the picture, since the film will now go head-to-head with the Universal comedy sequel "Little Fockers" and the Fox adventure-comedy "Gulliver's Travels." Opening earlier will certainly bump the final box office numbers for the weekend window, but it will also throw reviews of the film up front with the others.

Sofia Coppola's Venice film festival winner "Somewhere" starts its Oscar-qualifying through Focus Features that Wednesday, as does the Screen Gems musical drama "Country Strong."

Last year, Bridges himself benefited from the late-season entry of "Crazy Heart," another country music drama that won him an Academy Award for best actor. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a similar lived-in role, and now Bridges is entering the awards season playing Rooster Cogburn, which won Wayne his only statuette.