I was a bit surprised to read that Baltasar Kormakur‘s Everest (Universal, 9.18) will open the 72nd Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, 9.2. Out of competition, of course. I’m sure it’ll be pretty good for what it is (a tragic, fact-based disaster film), but Kormakur’s Contraband and 2 Guns made it clear that he’s more or less Renny Harlin of the early ’90s. Pretty much all the male leads die in this, right? Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Sam Worthington, John Hawkes and Michael Kelly. With Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Robin Wright fretting as sketchy reports come in. Everest will almost certainly not be a Telluride film…right?
