The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Discuss weekly box office numbers, PTA numbers, and date changes.

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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by transformers2 »

undeadmonkey wrote:I've seen a few tv spots.
As have I. That being said, I'm still surprised that it's going wide right away.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

Netflix and STX have now settled on The Irishman, as Netflix has bought out STX's part of the production (and I imagine they've paid off the international distributors as well) to avoid a lawsuit. And there will now be a one week Oscar qualifying run before its premiere (when, we don't know).

And in perhaps the quickest window for a sequel in decades, IMAX has announced plans to open Inhumans 2 on 2/2/2018, just five months after the first film. And yes, the film will be split into two parts and shown on ABC afterwards.

More dates:
The Promise 4/21/2017 (from 4/28/2017)
Berlin Syndrome 5/5/2017
My Cousin Rachel 6/9/2017 (from 7/14/2017)
47 Meters Down 6/23/2017
Friend Request 9/22/2017 (I'd be surprised if these two Freestyle/Entertainment Studios dates stuck)
Trolls 2 (was this really asking for a sequel?) 4/10/2020

And a late Sundance pickup: IFC will distribute Rebel in the Rye. Most likely, it will be a couple of theatres before VOD.

Meanwhile, Bastards is apparently now titled Who's Your Daddy? as I saw that is the title it's being released under in the UK. Somehow, that's an even worse title.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

FilmRise and Amazon have formed a distribution alliance to pick up some Sundance holdouts. FilmRise gets theatrical rights on six films, Amazon will get pay cable/VOD rights in a new program to beef up their Prime library.

The titles:
Axolotl Overkill (I was convinced Netflix would buy this one)
Don't Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl
Family Life
500 Years
Free and Easy
The Good Postman
I Dream in Another Language
Machines
Manifesto (kind of surprised this was sold, being an art installation cut down to feature length)
Plastic China
Pop Aye (Kino Lorber already got theatrical)
World Without End

And some new dates:
Slamma Jamma (a religious basketball film getting a wide release) 3/24/2017
3 Idiotas (Mexican remake of the 2009 Indian film) 6/2/2017
Beatriz at Dinner 6/9/2017
13 Minutes 6/30/2017 (from 3/17/2017)
Lady Macbeth 7/14/2017 (from 6/2/2017)
Meg 8/10/2018 (from 3/2/2018)

Meanwhile, Rock Your Body is now titled Rough Night. It looks like it's still opening on 6/16/2017 (though the lack of marketing three months before release and turmoil at Sony could lead to this getting pushed to August or even the Fall season).
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

Universal has killed Larrikins, a film that was scheduled to open on 2/16/2018 and had spent four years in various states of production (voice acting was finished and I imagine a lot of animation was complete). Something tells me Universal thought the project was too Australian and felt it would never make money in the US (but Trolls 2 will?).

I wouldn't be surprised to see Warner Bros. (a company with a large interest in Australia) or an independent swoop in and rescue the project if there is little left to finish (I don't think this is a B.O.O. situation where the product was unreleasable).
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

Wilson will now be a wide release right away, giving March 24th five wide openers (all of which will likely flop). I expect Gifted will also open wide right away on Easter weekend (I can't see a film as well-marketed as this one staying limited).

And it looks like Neon has learned from past failures as Drafthouse and IMG as they will slowly expand Colossal throughout April instead of going wide as originally planned. I don't know what this will mean for word-of-mouth but it does help its marketing (which has been almost non-existent and uniformly terrible).

And some new dates:
Outcasts (the last title from the short-lived Clairus label finally gets distribution, not surprisingly it's day-and-date) 4/14/2017
The B-Side (one of Neon's many forthcoming titles, this one from Errol Morris) 6/2/2017
City of Ghosts 7/14/2017 (distribution partner to be determined, most likely IFC)
Landline 7/21/2017 (Magnolia partnering with Amazon, Sony probably getting home video rights)
Whose Streets? 8/11/2017 (Magnolia distributing)
Samson (Pure Flix remaking the Willem Dafoe film Triumph of the Spirit, basically) 9/29/2017
Show Dogs (a family comedy with one of the year's strangest casts) 11/10/2017
Call Me by Your Name 11/24/2017 (unsurprisingly, Sony is gunning for awards on this Sundance hit)
Step Sisters TBA 2017 (from 3/31/2017) (this will probably be straight-to-DVD or day-and-date now)
Den of Thieves 1/19/2018 (with the Relativity people involved with this STX production, it seems to suggest STX may distribute the unreleased Relativity library as well)
God's Not Dead 3 (a more unnecessary sequel than The Purge 4!) 3/30/2018
First Man (Damien Chazelle tries for Best Picture yet again) 10/12/2018

And Netflix has decided to release Okja theatrically in addition to premiering on the site. Not sure if this is a contractual obligation or to follow in Amazon's lead of showing they are more than glorified TV movies.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

New dates:

Chuck (aka The Bleeder) 5/5/2017
The Girl in the Spider's Web 10/5/2018 (looks like Sony will pay up on Fincher's $5 million pay-or-play deal as the film will feature an all-new cast and director)

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has dropped out of The Disaster Artist as the film will be having buyers screenings later this week. The film is also still in editing (though it was filmed like two years ago). I expect a small release at best for this one.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

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Representatives from A24, Neon and Sony were at The Disaster Artist's SXSW premiere last night and there are other screenings for indie studios set up in NYC and LA this week to gauge interest in purchasing the distribution rights, but Warner Brothers has yet to officially drop it. The strong reception from the screening last night might ultimately prove to be enough for them to reconsider dumping it.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

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James Franco hasn't had a hit in four years and his directorial efforts are some of the most self-indulgent and dull films today. In addition, the stories about the making of The Room are so well-known among fans that it defeats the purpose of seeing Franco make another vanity project where he makes things more about him than the story (and besides, only Wiseau can be Wiseau).

Also, it seems like distributors have gotten the hint about his directing. His other Hollywood-based film, Zeroville, remains without distribution and that was made a long time ago.

I expect this to be another film of his that gets one week of day-and-date action before hitting DVD (most likely, eOne releases it). A24's hit the big time now, Neon needs to make some money before going on another buying spree (they can't become another Broad Green), and Sony's more conservative right now due to being on the selling block (I was expecting Wanda to buy them but China's reducing buyouts of international companies). Also, SXSW viewers like pretty much anything. It's a music festival that just happens to screen movies and doesn't attract serious film people. Otherwise, they'd be battling with Sundance and Toronto for product instead of picking things you can find on FX at 2:00 am in a couple of years.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by transformers2 »

Buscemi wrote:James Franco hasn't had a hit in four years and his directorial efforts are some of the most self-indulgent and dull films today. In addition, the stories about the making of The Room are so well-known among fans that it defeats the purpose of seeing Franco make another vanity project where he makes things more about him than the story (and besides, only Wiseau can be Wiseau).

Also, it seems like distributors have gotten the hint about his directing. His other Hollywood-based film, Zeroville, remains without distribution and that was made a long time ago.

I expect this to be another film of his that gets one week of day-and-date action before hitting DVD (most likely, eOne releases it). A24's hit the big time now, Neon needs to make some money before going on another buying spree (they can't become another Broad Green), and Sony's more conservative right now due to being on the selling block (I was expecting Wanda to buy them but China's reducing buyouts of international companies). Also, SXSW viewers like pretty much anything. It's a music festival that just happens to screen movies and doesn't attract serious film people. Otherwise, they'd be battling with Sundance and Toronto for product instead of picking things you can find on FX at 2:00 am in a couple of years.
There is no fucking way that happens. Obviously The Room is a pretty niche property, but a Franco/Rogen project with an ensemble cast, strong early reviews and a pretty accessible premise about a man getting to live out his dreams isn't going to get the day-and-date dump treatment. I'm expecting a platform/small wide release sometime in August or September.

Also SXSW has had the premieres of a number of eventual hit movies (Spy, Trainwreck, Sausage Party, Don't Breathe) over the past couple of years. It may not be an indie hotbed like Sundance or an awards-buzz powerhouse like Toronto, but the film portion of the festival is still a pretty big deal.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

Zeroville also has Rogen (as a John Milius-inspired character in line with Walter from The Big Lebowski) and no one wants to release it. And Rogen isn't a sure thing anymore either post-The Interview.

In addition, movies about filmmaking almost never make money, especially these types of films where it's the entire plot. The way you describe The Disaster Artist is like a more indie, less artistic version of Ed Wood. Ed Wood had a well-known star, big director, and it went on to win a couple of Oscars but hardly anyone saw the film in the theatre. Past his prime James Franco is neither Johnny Depp nor Tim Burton in their primes. Going wide with this would be a black hole financially.

As for the four movies you mentioned, none of those films even needed the festival screenings. People would have gone to see them no matter what. If they could get a film like a La La Land or an Elle or a Moonlight to premiere, then it would be a true film festival deserving of its hype. But before then, it's simply a time waster inbetween concert sets.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Chienfantome »

Have you read the reactions and reviews that followed the screening at SXSW Boosch ? I mean, I know it doesn't mean it will suddenly be the biggest comedy of the year because almost everyone is raving it, but there's no denying this could be a more high-profile film than usual for Franco the director, definitely.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

All I read is that it's better than Atomic Blonde but not as good as Baby Driver.

But SXSW raves don't mean much. Two years ago, Fort Tilden won the main award but got tiny distribution and was quickly forgotten. Last year's winner didn't get distribution period and was self-distributed. It's just an excuse to make dumb comedies seem more prestigious than they really are. If you put The Disaster Artist into a more film-based festival, it would get panned heavily.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Chienfantome »

But this isn't an indie film from the competition. Last year the work-in-progress comedy that got this type of presentation, and reaction, was Sausage Party. I don't expect this kind of success, but there is certainly more potential here than another regular James Franco directed film.
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Buscemi »

Sausage Party was a big studio film with broader appeal that played to the SXSW audience of "kill two hours inbetween shows". This is a film with limited audience appeal made to indulge egos. If one decided to put this in 1,000 theatres, they would lose the whole investment.

In other news, the perpetually "almost finished" Orson Welles film The Other Side of the Wind, which began filming in 1972 and has had Peter Bogdanovich and Frank Marshall supervising its completion in recent years, has been picked up by Netflix. This creates an interesting situation in that much of its final touches were financed through crowdfunding and funders were promised a DVD or Blu-ray copy at release (Netflix has yet to release any of its films on home video). As a result, a special arrangement has been made to allow for a limited Blu-ray release around the same time as its premiere. I wonder if this eventually leads to a breakdown of Netflix exclusive rights or if Netflix will simply read the fine print on future crowdfunded projects (of course, crowdfunded films as a whole seem to be dying out after the financial failures of several of them).
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Re: The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

Post by Chienfantome »

Buscemi wrote:Sausage Party was a big studio film with broader appeal that played to the SXSW audience of "kill two hours inbetween shows". This is a film with limited audience appeal made to indulge egos. If one decided to put this in 1,000 theatres, they would lose the whole investment.
You haven't read what I have written. I specifically said it won't have Sausage party success. You read what you want to read in what I write ;)
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