3:10 to Yuma coming before Brad Pitt Western

By Matt Holmes /

3:10 to Yuma. When a genre is as dead as the Western, the last thing you want your film in that genre to be is overcrowded by others. This isn't the superhero genre where people are quite happy to see Spider-Man and Fantastic Four so close together. This is the Western. You might be able to catch a broader audience for the first one but they might not be so interested for more. Variety are reporting that James Mangold's western remake of 3:10 to Yuma starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe has been bumped up from October 5th release to September 7th. This means the movie will now come out before The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (limited run Sept. 21) and the Coen Brothers movie No Country for Old Men (Nov. 7th).

"We certainly wanted to be the first Western in the marketplace," said Lionsgate president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg. "More importantly, in what is shaping up to be a very impressive and crowded field of upscale commercial motion pictures this fall, we wanted to be one of the first ones out, so that everything else will be measured against us."
Word is they are very proud of their movie and are expecting big things at next year's various award ceremonies. They are also planning to release the movie's DVD in January, which is just about the same time as when the Oscar noms are taking place. Great news, although I'm not sure how it will effect the Brad Pitt western. I think the studio gave up on that movie a LONG time ago and it's just being brushed under the carpet in September. Shame, because it looked really great.

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