How do you sour the magic of a world premiere to what could very well end up being the most anticipated and most talked about movie at a major film festival? Well you open it a whole week earlier in the U.K. - that's how. In totally baffling, unexpected and I'd say unjustifiable news,
Empire are reporting that
Terrence Malick's long-gestating drama about life, the universe and dinosaurs -
Tree of Life - will open Wednesday May 4th in the U.K, Fox Searchlight shunning a prestigious Cannes debut just a week later. It's still set to play at Cannes (probably out of comp) but all the U.K. press and those American sites who have U.K. stringers will have already made up their mind on the ambitious movie and there will be very little interest or mystery for them. Sure it'll be nice to see it again and all (unless it's as boring as The New World, which I couldn't imagine sitting through twice in two weeks) but I'm hoping Malick's premiere falls on the same day as my team Newcastle United play Chelsea live on Sky Sports - then it's an easy movie to miss... For those wondering, the May 27th U.S. date stays in tact. I imagine the Cannes president
Thierry Frémaux is pissed and he'll be desperately making calls now to find a suitable showcase spectacle replacement. If he could convince Matt Vaughn to show
X-Men: First Class, that would do us very nicely, though from what I hear Vaughn will be working until the twilight hours the night before his film opens to make sure it's ready in time!!! Still Cannes get the red carpet premiere, they get
Brad Pitt (w/Angelina Jolie),
Sean Penn and possibly the reclusive
Terrence Malick which should bring with it a media circus of it's own. For some press at Cannes, it's not even about the movie but the spectacle of the thing. The news of the U.K. release bow overshadowed the reveal of this new poster, a collage of images from the new film, which just adds to the mystery and intrigue...