File this one under 'D'oh!'. Paramount Pictures has taken the new Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio thriller "Shutter Island" and moved it from its October 2nd release date all the way back to February 19, 2010. Apparently, two of the biggest reasons for the move are 1) DiCaprio won't be available to promote the film internationally and 2) Paramount, who just came off of a banner summer with hits "Star Trek" ($256 million), "G.I. Joe" ($105 mil so far) and "Transformers 2, Audience 0" ($397 mil to date), apparently doesn't have enough money to properly market (read: buy awards) "Island".
If Paramount has Oscar on its mind with "Shutter Island", one question that comes to mind is why doesn't the studio put the film in New York and Los Angeles for a one-week run to qualify for the Academy Awards? I am under the assumption that the film is nearly completed. Would it cost much to strike up two or three prints and a couple of newspaper ads?
While it is a bit of a disappointment that the film isn't coming out for another half year (the trailer promised B-movie fun along the lines of Scorsese's 1991 remake of "Cape Fear"), the upside will be that there may actually be something decent playing in cinemas in February.
I enjoyed the book but I can't believe they are (or were) going to position it as an AWARDS-generating film!??!!? The book is exactly as you said--a pleasantly diverting B movie. I dunno. Postponing release dates by months smells bad. (P.S.--"Transformers 2, Audience 0"--hilarious.)
ReplyDeletePook
Well, I think it's because the film had Scorsese and DiCaprio working on it, so there is the awards aspect. Delaying a Scorsese film is nothing new and thus far (knock wood) it hasn't resulted in a bad film: Gangs of New York was delayed several times and the Age of Innocence was delayed a full year. Both turned out to be pretty darn good films.
ReplyDeleteI still say that if Paramount has any Oscar hopes in the film, they release it limited at the end of the year for consideration.