The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

[Buscemi]

X-Mas is now titled The Night Before, keeping with the whole "set on Christmas but not really about Christmas" theme. The release date is still at 11/25/2015.

Meanwhile, Jane Got a Gun is set to be officially pulled from its 9/4/2015 date to a undetermined new date as Relativity missed their extension deadline given by the company's investors and apparently have no money to promote the film. I wouldn't be surprised if The Weinstein Company ended up buying the domestic rights (they already hold international rights through co-financing the film). Labor Day weekend will now only consist of three wide releases as Kitchen Sink was pulled from Sony's schedule last month (and apparently, No Escape may move up to August 26th to fill the spot Regression vacated, which would reduce things to two). Edit: No Escape is indeed now at August 26th, according to Box Office.com.

And a little pool on where I think remaining Relativity titles could end up (EuropaCorp titles will be self-released, possibly with a new partner such as Fox or Universal while Masterminds will remain at Relativity):

Jane Got a Gun: Weinstein
Before I Wake: Gramercy
The Disappointments Room: STX
Hillsong: Pure Flix/Freestyle
Kidnap: STX
The Bronze: IFC
Autobahn: STX
Damascus Cover (picked up but no date): IFC
In Football We Trust (produced for television but bought at Sundance): ESPN
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Steve Aoki documentary in post-production): A24
Solace (filmed for New Line but Relativity bought it): STX
Shot Caller (filming): STX (though Lionsgate could show interest)
in-development or pre-production projects: STX

[Buscemi]

New release date:

The Lady in the Van TBA 2015 (from 12/11/2015)

I'm kind of surprised by this delay. It looked like a potential Oscar contender and it's one of the new head of Sony's pet projects (but then again, changing the title from a TriStar release to Sony Pictures Classics seemed to suggest something was up).

[Buscemi]

New release date:

Shaun the Sheep Movie 8/5/2015 (from 8/7/2015)

Getting a two-day head start on the rest of the week's openers, possibly to get Aardman/Wallace and Gromit loving animation buffs and adults looking for festival hits in on Wednesday and Thursday before the families who've already seen Minions and Pixels come for the weekend. And with Fantastic Four canceling its 3-D run, the week's four movies should be a bit closer in parity (though The Gift will likely get less than 2,000 theatres due to the exclusivity agreement with the top four chains).

[Chienfantome]

Yeah I've read they cancel the 3D conversion of Fantastic Four. It's better this way. I've also read the film is only 97 minutes long, and while some think it's a bad sign, I think it's a good one. "Chronicle" was only 85 minutes long, Trank has already proven you don't need 120 minutes or over to tell a superhero story.

[Buscemi]

I don't know. Many signs seem to have shown that the film is a disaster (Trank was supposedly on hard drugs while making it, Marvel won't support it, reshoots were still being done as of last week, etc.) and the cancellation of the domestic 3-D run (I imagine the conversion will appear on Blu-ray) is a further sign that something's not right.

But then again, maybe not.

[W]

I don't know. Many signs seem to have shown that the film is a disaster (Trank was supposedly on hard drugs while making it, Marvel won't support it, reshoots were still being done as of last week, etc.) and the cancellation of the domestic 3-D run (I imagine the conversion will appear on Blu-ray) is a further sign that something's not right.

But then again, maybe not.

Isn't it possible Marvel won't support it because it isn't Disney making it? They've never supported, say, Amazing Spider-man or X-Men. Hell, I don't think you'll find a Spider-man anywhere in the Disney parks.

[Buscemi]

Even though Fox released it, it's still a Marvel production. Not Marvel Studios but their name is still on it (the only time Marvel has asked for their name to be taken off of a production was Big Hero 6). But while in the past they've silently backed the releases of non-in-house productions, Marvel's reaction to Fantastic Four has been violent hatred. Shortly after production began, Marvel announced the cancellation of the series. And in many of the production's criticisms, Marvel has often sided with the fans over the studio or people involved with the production (compared to not taking a side over the numerous deletions or reductions of characters and the deletion of much of the original plot in the most recent X-Men).

So while Marvel often has a hand in promotion and what not in something like X-Men (through merchandise and tie-in comics or by just placing ads for the movies in their issues), they've pretty much washed their hands in terms of helping handle the release of Fantastic Four.

[undeadmonkey]

if any of this is true, they've done a really good job hiding it.

[Buscemi]

Look at the last X-Men. That movie was everywhere before release and everyone seemed to okay about it. But Fantastic Four is seemingly nowhere three weeks before release.

Also, Fox is already looking for a different director for the planned sequel (they offered it to Bryan Singer last week), Josh Trank got fired from his next movie due to problems with this one, and Marvel pretty much decided to hate the end product right away. And deciding to cancel the 3-D run less than a month before opening (in a reverse case of the the desperation post-conversions we've seen in recent years) is definitely a sign that Fox and Marvel have pretty much given up on the film (especially seeing how Deadpool was the Fox/Marvel project everyone was talking about at Comic-Con).

[undeadmonkey]

I read the 3d post conversion was scrapped because they spent that budget on reshoots.

[Buscemi]

Sure that might have been a reason but they still could have converted those few scenes in three weeks if Fox thought it was worth the time. If Fox isn't spending any more money on the project and is choosing not to add that extra surcharge onto screenings, it's a sign that they've given up on the film and don't even think international markets (where 3-D post-conversions make huge numbers, look at how Furious 7's international post-converted release did) will salvage it.

[W]

Also, if any of the Marvel films fail, Fox/Sony won't do them anymore and Disney/Marvel will have access to the character(s). So why would they promote it? They won't even make Fantastic 4 toys... At least I think I read the head of Disney say: "Why would we promote something we make 50% from instead of something we make 100% from." or something like that...

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Also, if any of the Marvel films fail, Fox/Sony won't do them anymore and Disney/Marvel will have access to the character(s). So why would they promote it? They won't even make Fantastic 4 toys... At least I think I read the head of Disney say: "Why would we promote something we make 50% from instead of something we make 100% from." or something like that...

Well, as long as the films get made, the studio who owns the rights will retain them. With Spider-Man, Sony just literally couldn't reboot the character yet again - they knew they'd just be tossing money into the trash.

[W]

Also, if any of the Marvel films fail, Fox/Sony won't do them anymore and Disney/Marvel will have access to the character(s). So why would they promote it? They won't even make Fantastic 4 toys... At least I think I read the head of Disney say: "Why would we promote something we make 50% from instead of something we make 100% from." or something like that...

Well, as long as the films get made, the studio who owns the rights will retain them. With Spider-Man, Sony just literally couldn't reboot the character yet again - they knew they'd just be tossing money into the trash.

Yeah, they retain the film rights, but if a character isn't used in however many years the rights revert to Marvel. That's why the original F4 was made, right?

[undeadmonkey]

Also, if any of the Marvel films fail, Fox/Sony won't do them anymore and Disney/Marvel will have access to the character(s). So why would they promote it? They won't even make Fantastic 4 toys... At least I think I read the head of Disney say: "Why would we promote something we make 50% from instead of something we make 100% from." or something like that...

Well, as long as the films get made, the studio who owns the rights will retain them. With Spider-Man, Sony just literally couldn't reboot the character yet again - they knew they'd just be tossing money into the trash.

Yeah, they retain the film rights, but if a character isn't used in however many years the rights revert to Marvel. That's why the original F4 was made, right?

that's why this F4 coming up was made... don't know if that was the case of the first one