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Global Road has officially closed up shop. I'm not sure what this means for The Silence (I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up on Netflix) but the company had been selling off other projects they had greenlighted.

Meanwhile, Sony's options on Masters of the Universe and Barbie have expired. Mattel will now make both films as independent projects and also have plans for a Monster High movie (previously at Universal) and another Max Steel project (because the first was so successful ).

I guess that Anne Hathaway Barbie movie is long dead?

Yeah. It had a mountain of script troubles and Hathaway isn't a very marketable name (if she was, The Hustle wouldn't have been pushed a year and recut to get a PG-13).

In other news, The Upside will open on 1/11/2019. It looks The Best of Enemies will indeed be STX's Oscar film.

Also, Netflix has bought Polaroid from Bob Weinstein, who took the film with him as his severance package along with the Dimension name.

A pair of titles previously at Lionsgate are set to get new homes. Screen Media will release The Mercy (a film on released what seems like years ago in Europe) sometime in December while Sony Pictures Classics was nearing a deal to pick up Stan & Ollie.

Meanwhile, the market of overpaying for overstylized teen films that only creepy incels will ever watch is alive and well. LD has paid $8 million for Teen Spirit, a film that would have likely been bought for far less after Toronto ended (did anyone ever pick up that movie Brie Larson directed which showed last year?).

A pair of forthcoming films that might be getting new titles based on test screening reports:

- Backseat is currently testing as Vice. With no marketing out as of yet and Annapurna busy with The Sisters Brothers and If Beale Street Could Talk, it wouldn't be a surprise to see this move away from Oscar season altogether.

- Happy Death Day 2 now has the slightly amended title of Happy Death Day 2U.

Considering the pedigree of its cast, how many nominations The Big Short got and its subject matter, Backseat exiting its current date would be a huge shocker. Plus as Fox Searchlight proves just about every year, studios can easily lobby for multiple movies at once during awards season, which I believe Annapurna will do with Beale Street and Backseat (I'm aware that Sisters Brothers was well-received on the festival circuit and was made by a renowned international filmmaker, it just doesn't seem like something that's going to be a legit contender for nominations).

But does anyone want to see a movie about Dick Cheney outside of old conservatives? The Front Runner seems to already have the political biopic made for a niche audience market cornered and that's already had its premiere and has marketing out. There's been nothing out for Backseat/Vice/whatever they'll end up calling it and the fact that they've only started testing it three months before opening suggests that won't be ready for Christmas. This is the kind of thing that should have been entered into the major festivals.

Annapurna is still a new distributor and they got burned last Oscar season. They can't afford to have three Oscar films while a studio can (one rich person is not the same as a conglomerate about to get swallowed up by an even bigger one).

Meanwhile, The Sisters Brothers can be a fringe contender. It was well-liked at Venice and there usually seems to be one Western film in the race (and I really don't see The Ballad of Buster Scruggs being that film, being that it was an aborted TV series recut to feature-length).

Big Short made its debut at AFI Fest. Wouldn't be surprised if Backseat did as well. No clue how will fare it at the BO, but that shit doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of awards season.

The Sisters Brothers got one of the best cast of the season, terrific reviews and won the Silver Lion at Venice.
It is going to be an Oscar contender.

Stuck will now open on 11/16/2018. Pinnacle Peak, the distributor that got the low-budget Little Women project from Pure Flix, will now distribute instead of Entertainment Studios.

I was going to add it to the Pricing sheet, but I couldn't even find it on IMDb. Weird.

Here it is: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3696610/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_4. You have to search a bit.

Neon has picked up Vox Lux. I wouldn't be surprised if Natalie Portman made this one a hot property.

Thanks to the excellent reviews following its premiere in Toronto over the weekend, The Hate U Give is now limited on 10/5 before its wide expansion on 10/19.

Netflix will release the next Steven Soderbergh film. It looks like he's given up on his distribution strategy.