If You’re Dying to See Julia . . .

Imagine that you’re a Hollywood studio chief with a summer movie about love and heartbreak, starring one of the nation’s most popular actresses.

Do you release it early, to immediately confront the competition? Or wait until the dust from early releases settles?

As recently as last Wednesday, executives at 20th Century Fox would not say when “Dying Young” will open. The film, a tear-jerker about a nurse played by Julia Roberts who falls in love with a dying man played by Campbell Scott, reunites Roberts with her “Flatliners” director, Joel Schumacher.

Roberts is the star of the moment, and after “Ghost” and “Pretty Woman” last year, Hollywood thinks romance is “in.”

The studio also will not comment on rumors of a possible title change. Some say “Dying Young” is depressing and gives the impression that it’s Roberts who dies. (She doesn’t.) One alternative title that has been bandied about, according to insiders, is “Forever Young.”

Fox lagged in announcing release dates for its entire summer schedule. For months, while Hollywood’s other major distributors have set their summer schedules and then jockeyed for optimum opening positions, Fox held back. The studio set opening dates for a few of its early summer movies only in the last few weeks.

If they’ve picked the perfect opening date for “Dying Young,” they aren’t saying. As of Sunday Calendar’s deadline, a Fox spokeswoman said only that the studio has never departed from its announcement that “Dying Young” would be a summer release.

Beyond that, the studio had no comment.

Does the Pentagon discuss its secret weapons?