Release Date Shuffle: Scorsese Out, Zombies In, Mr. Fox Takes It Slow
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thrillers, Awards, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount, Sony, RumorMonger, Distribution, Fox Searchlight, Dreamworks, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Harry Potter
So in the midst of all the Avatar hullabaloo, we haven't yet addressed the major move on Friday of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island from this October 2nd to next February. Considering the negative connotations that tend to come with most films pushed back, many were quick to defend the move as a savvy business strategy for a pulpy-looking film that wasn't a primary contender all along.Fair enough. Plenty of studios made major shuffles to deal with post-strike gaps (Harry Potter, anyone?), and now they're concerned about being more fiscally responsible with what's to come. As THR's Steven Zeitchik pointed out, Paramount/Dreamworks already has two front-runners to work with between Up in the Air and The Lovely Bones, and somewhere between the reportedly sharp comedy and the prestige-heavy drama, a distinctly genre work like a Leonardo DiCaprio thriller does seem a bit like the odd man out.
In the wake of the move, two comedies -- Zombieland and Whip It -- have moved up their own October release dates to fill the void, and if there's any justice, we'll see Woody Harrelson accept a blood-splattered Oscar in DiCaprio's stead. And if Coming Soon and Box Office Mojo are to be believed, Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox will now get a limited release on November 13th before going wide on the 25th, where I suspect it will still get crushed by the likes of Old Dogs across the Thanksgiving stretch. Pity.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-23-2009 @ 9:13PM
mezzaninex said...
Damn, another 4 months of seeing the Shutter Island trailer, I'm so incredibly sick of it.
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8-24-2009 @ 11:26AM
Michael said...
A pulpy genre thriller with DiCaprio and Scorsese? Like, um...THE DEPARTED? Yeah, you're right, it probably wouldn't have had a chance at the Oscars.
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8-24-2009 @ 11:27AM
William Goss said...
Corrupt cops would be up the Academy's alley. Vanishing asylum residents? I have my doubts.
9-05-2009 @ 2:01AM
rgb kabel said...
rgb kabel
This is officially a promotion for SlashFilm, but I can't help myself, I've got to write about it as well. Fox Searchlight has launched a small contest on their website for 500 Days of Summer to help them choose the poster for the film.
Reply