There’s a number of reasons to be excited for the making of and release of Brett Ratner‘s ‘Hercules,’ which will star Dwayne Johnson and looks to be a go project. Some reasons for being excited about this might be meaner than others, but regardless the news today is that the film has a release date: August 8, 2014.

Though the film hasn’t started shooting, calling your date has become essential for event films these days as studios often leave room around tentpoles so every big film gets its weekend (unless it’s counter-programming, ala ‘Madagascar 3' and ‘Prometheus‘ opening the same day). The release date of August 8, 2014 puts it at the less competitive end of the summer, and a week after the release of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ As this is a likely franchise-starter, the date suggests they think they have a summer movie, but don’t want to go up against the bigger tentpoles.

Though Brett Ratner has become a whipping boy for a number of reasons, fanboys should be happy with this announcement for what it does tell us, which is that Ratner then would not be involved with either ‘Justice League‘ or with the latest ‘Star Wars‘ film in any capacity. On top of which, this modern take on ‘Hercules’ is the sort of thing that’s in his wheelhouse. But we’ll know for sure when the film hits theaters next year. We’d expect casting announcements to trickle out shortly.