Damn, hold the phone! The Oscar season is being thrown apart and it's like musical chairs. Everyone has to rejigger their picks quick. "The Road" might be pushed to 2009, there's "The Reader," drama, and now "The Soloist" starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx has been officially pushed back to March 2009. Man, what a nutty season this has been so far.
The film's website still says it's set for a11.29.08. release date, but according to Variety late last night, Paramount has pushed the film back to March 13, 2009, which pretty much mean its Oscar hopes are over and that the studio probably didn't have much faith in it winning in the first place (and are probably going to concentrate their efforts on 'Benjamin Button' and "Revolutionary Road" instead).
DreamWorks had high hopes for the film and its Oscar potential and it's probably only a matter of time until someone says this is some dickmove on Parmount's part because of the split, but apparently, Robert Downey Jr. wouldn't have been around for press and junkets cause of shooting on Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes."
According to Variety, "DreamWorks declined comment, but insiders said brass are very disappointed by the move while conceding that it might benefit the film's box office prospects due to the competitive field of year-end films."
It may also have something to do with Paramount's recent announcement of scale-back plans to only release 20 films a year. That probably means only one film to deal with for the Oscars and putting your best and only foot forward instead of deluding your money across multiple Oscar campaigns.
Defiance Dead For Oscars Too?
Another Parmount film pushed back, but still in 2008, is Ed Zwick's "Defiance" starring Daniel Craig that was scheduled for a December 12th, and it now being pushed for a late-minute Oscar-qualifying run on December 31st according to DeadlineHollywood who also said the reasons for the 'Soloist' push are economic (which are the same reason for the Paramount scale-back, parent company Viacom is feeling the economy crunch like all of us). Hollywood Elsewhere seems to think that the "Defiance" move (it won't go wide until January obviously) signals the fact that it's dead in the water, Oscar-wise, and we're inclined to agree with his posit.
10/17/2008
Oscar-Season Madness: 'The Soloist' Pushed To March 2009, Defiance Probably Pushed Out Of Oscar Contention Too
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3 comments:
Could've been worse. Can't say I'm devastated over The Soloist being bumped, or even flinched at Defiance moving even closer to Valkyrie, ha...they should have fun battling it out at the box-office.
And as far as the first casualty (well Harry Potter was the first i guess, but who cares but it), The Road, aintitcoolnews has a review praising it. But then chud has a review calling it a mess. This was on my top five films to see this season, but things just aren't looking good.
I don't really care about the Soloist and this basically confirms my suspicions that it wasn't Oscar-worthy or that good (the trailer looked kind of cheesy).
So no, no devastation: the main point is holy shit, the oscar season game has totally changed and is in major constant flux.
I was sort of worried for Ben Button and Australia as they seemed to outre for the classic Academy, but with things shifting as they are, they might have better chances.
I hope the Road makes the 2008 cut.
Yea, i still want The Road to come out ASAP, no matter what it's final condition, but Button and Australia are above it on my list, so as long as they stay put, i'm happy.
What i really hate is when a film i really wanted to see takes the jump into the next year, such as Zodiac last year. Now i know u guys didn't care for it, but before it came out it was high on my list.
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