Holding off on Oscar pushes

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Because of the failure last year of Terry Press's aggressive earlybird Dreamgirls push, "several studios are pulling back on the Oscar hype, according to Variety's Anne Thompson.

The late-in-the-game entries, of course, will include There Will Be Blood, Charlie Wilson's War, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- Tim Burton doesn't make Oscar faves -- and The Great Debaters. (There are rumors, Thompson reports, that Debaters will "barely finish" in time for viewing).

I didn't run this earlier, but despite that dug-in player insisting in a 10.8 posting that Wayne Kramer's Crossing Over might possibly be platform-released in December, this isn't going to happen.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 20, 2007 at 2:00 PM

comment #1

Hunter Tremayne says ...

Well, ATONEMENT will have plenty of cash in the war chest. It has made over $20m in Britain alone.

Posted by Hunter Tremayne at October 20, 2007 2:50 PM

comment #2

EDouglas says ...

Attended the press conference for American Gangster earlier and Denzel said that the movie has already been shown to audiences and based on that they're going to be releasing it wide into 2000 theatres right off the bat in December, learning from the mistakes made with Antwone Fischer with platforming.

Posted by EDouglas at October 20, 2007 3:38 PM

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Why has Ian Sinclair decided to use an alias?

Posted by jeffmcm at October 20, 2007 3:48 PM

comment #4

jeffmcm says ...

Ah, I see. As I long suspected, 'Ian Sinclair' is the alias and he is not a psychologist.
That's gratifying.

Posted by jeffmcm at October 20, 2007 4:13 PM

comment #5

BurmaShave says ...

I see a TITANIC/LA CONFIDENTIAL thing developing with ATONEMENT and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I know some are saying there's no way NO COUNTRY makes the top 5, but remember LA was a dark and bloody affair that many people had ending issues with, but Critics groups went gaga over it, keeping it in play. I think it's now pretty universally regarded as the Best Picture of 1997. I think the same thing will happen with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

From everything I've read ATONEMENT is actually excellent, more than just the amiably good epic film that TITANIC was, and I think it could attract teen girls in the same way. So my point? Uh... Javier Bardem is the new Kim Basinger?

Posted by BurmaShave at October 20, 2007 6:15 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

Zimmergirl says ...

There is no way Atonement will ever be Titanic. No way, no how. No Country is a film by beloved vets; LA Confidential put Curtis Hanson and Russell Crowe on the map. It's more like the following year: English Patient vs. Fargo.

Posted by Zimmergirl at October 21, 2007 7:27 AM

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

Yeah that really is a better example I just guess it was too literal for me to wrap my head around at first. I'm still waiting for someone to give a good reason why NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN isn't Best Picture material. And might I remind them that last year's winner featured a woman being shot in the head, a ring being removed from a severed hand, Jack Nicholson holding a dildo, and about 337 uses of the word fuck or its variants.

Posted by BurmaShave at October 21, 2007 7:57 AM

comment #9

raskimono says ...

Don't know about the Crossing Over not opening this year. I went to a test screening for the movie the Wednesday before the last at the AMC Burbank and I got the impression that it will open this year.

Posted by raskimono at October 21, 2007 11:14 AM

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

If it's good (and that's an if), it would be smart to move it to early summer next year and hope for some CRASH money. They could even piggyback on INDIANA JONES press.

Posted by BurmaShave at October 21, 2007 8:17 PM