Paramount Pictures are so disappointed with how THE SOLOIST has turned out, they are pushing back the first movie from British filmmaker Joe Wright since ATONEMENT... from a November 21st bow to March 17th 2009. The move completely kills off any Oscar chance the movie had which from the trailer looked to promote exceptional performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx which seemed positioned to challenge for acting noms.
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"We decided it's a commercial movie that will play well in the spring, and we'll give it an aggressive wide release then," Par vice chairman Rob Moore said.
Variety say the movie is a shock to Wright and the talent involved in the pic and believe it to be a sign of no confidence in the film which could back-fire in the view of the public's and critics image. The decision has clearly been last minute as the trailer has been playing with prints of EAGLE EYE and t.v. spots have started to screen internationally. Reminder of that solid trailer...
Some conspiracy theorists believe it could be to avoid a high back-end costs of promoting the movie on this year's budget, moving it to 2009 to avoid spending more money this year. Also Paramount didn't fancy the films chances against FROST/NIXON, TWILIGHT, BOLT, DEFIANCE and MILK among others in that period. That's despite the huge amount of money Robert Downey Jr. has made Paramount with both IRON MAN andTROPIC THUNDER this year. It would seem Paramount are instead pushing REVOLUTIONARY ROAD from Sam Mendes and the reunion of the two stars from the biggest film of all time reuniting for the first time in a deacade in Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I don't believe when the trades say they are also pushing David Fincher's new film because nothing Paramount have said over the last year have shown me they have much confidence in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Shame about THE SOLOIST... I can't help but think they are making a mistake here but Downey Jr is HOT right now and compared to FROST/NIXON, DEFIANCE and MILK... the movie has SOOOO much more commerical appeal. You've seen the trailer? That looks like a winner, right?
