Poor Summit Entertainment (and director Jodie Foster) have had a helluva time with their latest project The Beaver.

The film, "an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life", was temporarily shelved due to the personal problems of lead actor Mel Gibson earlier this year. Since then, Summit mulled over various release possibilities -- including dumping the film straight to DVD.

Now it seems the film is scheduled to open in US cinemas in Spring 2011.

According to AceShowbiz The Beaver tells the story of Walter Black (Gibson) who was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can't seem to get himself back on track...until a beaver hand puppet enters his life.

Foster also stars in the film as Black's wife Meredith.

Here's the official trailer:



And look! Funny or Die have already recut the trailer so that it's pleasingly NSFW.