In the US at least, or at least the July 4th weekend. It’s actual US release date is July 22, so it’s not like the movie wouldn’t already be finished. Maybe there’s a practical reason I’m missing, like they’re dodging some big competition, but still.
Of course I’m in no way convinced of its quality yet. I am hopeful.
You know, I wondered the same thing.
That does seem pretty freaking obvious. Maybe they don’t want to compete with the new Transformers movie (out July 1). They have have also wanted to go after the last Harry Potter movie (July 15).
The new Transformers movie is already announced for opening on July 1st. Generally speaking, the studios do attempt to only have one “big” movie opening each weekend.
Also, I really think there won’t be a single utterance of the word “Nazi” in the movie - let alone a swastika. The director has plead, “Hydra are Nazis” which is clearly a dodge. I don’t want a Venn Diagram of Hydra/Nazi overlap, I want to see Captain America uppercutting Nazis! What’s really infuriating is that Joe Johnson, the director, already made a Disney movie set in WWII featuring villainous Nazis: The Rocketeer. Indiana Jones and Hellboy both used plenty of Nazi villains too. Since when do people find Nazi villains offensive? They’ve long been the perfect silver screen villains.
Uh, since never? I don’t know what the movie’s going to (I probably won’t see it), but if they do what you’re assuming they will do, I wouldn’t assume it’s because of offensiveness. It could just be because the Nazis have become a dated movie villain at this point or because they don’t fit into the tone of a summer blockbuster superhero movie.
July 4th is a Monday, and movies never open on Mondays. Wednesday, Thursday, or the weekend, sure. But I’ve never seen one open on a Monday. Thats leaving aside competition issues like the Transformers movie
Words 6 through 12 of the OP:
“or at least the July 4th weekend”
Used to be Nazis. Then Soviets. Now’s terrorists are the villains du jour. Gotta keep up with the zeitgeist, dontcha know…
This summer looks like it’s got a pretty intense blockbuster release schedule:
May 6th - Thor
May 20th - Pirates of the Caribbean
May 27th - Hangover 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2
June 3rd - X-Men: First Class
June 10th - Super 8
June 17th - Green Lantern
June 24th - Cars 2
July 1st - Transformers 3
July 15th - Harry Potter 7.5
July 22nd - Captain America
July 29th - Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs
Makes sense why they would wait until the end of July. Keeps enough space between it and Thor, and avoids overlap with Green Lantern and Transformers.
This is one of those times where the distinction between the ampersand and the word “and” comes in handy. Though a movie with Cowboys and Aliens and Smurfs might be amusing…
Looking at imdb.com, I see that the Marvel Studios is owned by Paramount - which also distributes Transformers 3. There’s your answer.
I originally wrote it as Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs before realizing that didn’t look quite right.
If they set a movie in Europe during WWII, they’re not allowed to think of Nazis as being too dated.
They at least mention Hitler in the trailer. I think we’ll see some Nazis. HYDRA is supposedly a splinter group of Nazi’s under the Red Skulls command.
Because my birthday is the 21st, so the opening is a gift for me. 
What a lineup. Are any of these going to be any good? I guess the recent Harry Pooter movies have gotten good reviews. I like Ryan Reynolds, but Green Lantern seems like it would be so easy to screw up on the screen. Hangover 2 just sounds like the worst idea ever.
I think it’s more the second. People expect comic book superheroes to fight comic book supervillains. We already know you don’t need superheroes to beat Nazis - George C. Scott, Harrison Ford, John Belushi, Tom Hanks, & Brad Pitt have all proved that.
That would be the exact same reason that V For Vendentta didn’t open on November 5th-- release conflicts.
John Belushi?
That must have been when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.