CW: Mentions of Harvey Weinstein ahead.
Well, we're all still trapped in our home thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak and that means more and more theatrical releases are getting their once concrete release dates adjusted. As we all sit and wait for new theatrical releases to return, this week's In Laman's Terms is going back in time to look at other times in history that movies got extensive release date delays. Movies don't just get delayed because of health pandemics. Throughout history, there have been a slew of reasons for movies getting delayed ranging uncertainty over marketing to wanting to make time for reshoots to financing woes. As these seven movies show, release dates can become flexible under a myriad of circumstances.
Tulip Fever
Throughout the history of The Weinstein Company, movies they were supposed to release had a tendency of just getting their release dates delayed endlessly or even removed altogether. Such was the case with Tulip Fever, the studios' last ever theatrical release when it was released on September 1, 2017, just a few week before the Harvey Weinstein scandals ensured The Weinstein Company's demise. At one point in time, though, Tulip Fever was supposed to come out as early as November 2015. Then it got delayed to July 22, 2016. From there, Tulip Fever endured a comically large amount of further delays. It was subsequently out into a late February 2017 slot before being removed from The Weinstein Company's release slate entirely. It was eventually penciled in for August 25, 2017 before being pushed forward one week to its eventual domestic release date. Amusingly, upon doing research for this column, I found out that Tulip Fever endured even greater delays in its overseas release. Apparently, Tulip Fever didn't come out in the UK until December 2018, four-and-a-half years after it first started filming.
Fanboys
Yet another Weinstein Company release, Fanboys was a comedy about a bunch of Star Wars obsessed nerds in 1999 who, upon learning that their best friend is dying of cancer, intend to stage a break-in to Skywalker Ranch so that he can see the movie before passing. Originally, Fanboys was set for a wide theatrical release in August 2007, a year that would have coincided with 40th anniversary of the first Star Wars film. However, Fanboys began to experience extensive behind-the-scenes drama that resulted in lengthy delays. Such drama apparently revolved around a new director being hired to oversee reshoots that removed the cancer subplot from Fanboys. Eventually, Fanboys was released with its darker subplot intact but at a cost. It was only released in an extremely limited release run in February 2009 that saw it grossing a mere $960,828 domestically.
The Wolfman (2010)
Speaking of behind-the-scenes mayhem, the Joe Johnston helmed remake of The Wolfman went through a messy pre-production period (Johnston joined the project just a month prior to the start of principal photography) that led to equally erratic decisions on when to release this horror movie. The very first release date was a November 14th, 2008 slot before it was then delayed to February 13, 2009. In the months to come, The Wolfman was given release dates in April 2009, November 2009 and, finally, February 2010. The Wolfman went through all kinds of turmoil in its journey to the big screen, including lengthy reshoots and indecision over what its score should sound like. But none of that was quite as messy as Universal's struggles to find The Wolfman a proper release date.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Of all the movies on this list, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had the most undramatic reasons for its release date delay. Originally scheduled for release on November 21, 2008, Half-Blood Prince was intended to continue the franchises release tradition of alternating between Summer and Fall releases. However, that tradition was disrupted when Prince was set for a July 15, 2009 release, making it the second-consecutive Harry Potter film to be released in the summertime. An outcry emerged from fans who didn't want to wait eight extra months for the next Harry Potter release but Warner Bros, the studio behind the Potter films, wasn't budging. Their 2009 slate was looking light compared to a 2008 slate bolstered by The Dark Knight. With Prince delayed, now they were guaranteed a 2009 box office juggernaut. This release date delay also had consequences far beyond just WB's annual box office haul. Twilight was originally scheduled to open on December 12, 2008, four weeks after Prince. When Prince got delayed, Twilight moved into that November 21, 2008 release date, the same pre-Thanksgiving slot the Harry Potter franchise had debuted in. Twilight became a box office phenomenon in its November 2008 release date and all but one of its sequels were released in the same release slot.
Roar
OK, here's a fun story. Roar is an adventure movie that started filming in 1976 whose cast primarily consists of tigers, cougars and jaguars. This production used a slew of actual wild animals, which caused all kinds of chaos for the production. Cast & crew members alike were frequently attacked by the creatures, which caused, in addition to countless severe injuries, filming to last for years. After all of that suffering, Roar's problems were far from over. This feature was unable to secure domestic distribution. A handful of limited theatrical engagements occurred in select foreign territories in 1981 but that was it for Roar. This film remained an obscure curiosity until it finally got a theatrical release from Drafthouse Films in 2015. Though it was delayed decades from its original projected release date, Roar is now an iconic example of bizarrely dangerous filmmaking.
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
Speaking of long-delayed projects, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane was an Amber Heard horror film that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006. The Weinstein Company (there they are again) subsequently bought the film and planned to release it in July 2007 through their Dimension Films banner. However, the studios' financial difficulties caused Mandy Lane to be sold off to Senator Entertainment US. Mandy Lane's new domestic home went bankrupt in 2009, leaving the film's release in limbo for years. In an act of cruel irony straight out of the movies, Mandy Lane was eventually re-acquired by The Weinstein Company and finally released domestically in the Fall of 2013. It took them seven years but Harvey Weinstein company came through on their promise to release Mandy Lane.
Monster Trucks
You didn't think I'd do a list regarding delayed movies without invoking Monster Trucks, did you? Though now known as one of the costliest box office flops in history, Monster Trucks actually started out as a high-profile picture for Paramount Pictures. One of the first efforts from their then-new division Paramount Animation, Monster Trucks was first slated for a May 29, 2015 release. However, Monster Trucks was subsequently given a slew of new release dates that saw the film occupying weekends in December 2015 and March 2016 before settling on its final January 13, 2017 release date. Such lengthy delays were not due to reshoots or behind-the-scenes tweaks since Monster Trucks director Chris Wedge openly stated in an interview with ComingSoon.net that the film was finished in October 2015. Instead, it appears Paramount simply lost confidence in the project. What was once a major Summertime tentpole was now being dumped in early January three years after it first started principal photography.
No comments:
Post a Comment