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This was on http://www.comingsoon.net
“Tim Burton’s Big Fish Pushed Back
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Wednesday, August 27, 2003Director Tim Burton’s Big Fish, about a man coming to terms with his dying father, is being held back from wide release by two months to give the marketing campaign more time.
The film had originally been set for a wide release November 26 to take advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday, but Sony Pictures now plans a platform release in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto beginning December 18. It will eventually go into wide release in 2,500 theaters January 23.
Because the film bows on a Thursday, it will be sandwiched between the scheduled December 17 opening of New Line The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the day before and Mona Lisa Smile the day after.”
Now, this could be both bad and good. The bad part is that we’ll have to wait longer to see it. And if you are not in the 3 above listed cities, you’ll have to wait even longer. Not to mention Elfman’s score may not be released until January. That really sucks!!!
But, for an Oscar standpoint, it may prove to be a good thing. They are releasing it just in time to be considered for the statue and releasing it just in time to be fresh on everyone’s mind. So, it might get “The Boys” some nominations. We’ll see.
Lucius
I don’t know what to do…I bought the book today. Should i read it or not ?
(yeah i know what you’re going to say : “i don’t understand why you bought it then” but i was very surprised to find it – it hasn’t been translated in french yet – so i took it).About the movie, i’m so glad to see the delay between the us release date and the belgian one passes from 4 months to two weeks !
No!! If it comes out in January it has to wait another whole year to be considered for an oscar! I may be wrong, but from what I know this means that Big Fish has no chance of being nominated for anything in the 2003 Academy Awards. I hope I’m wrong, because it’s proven that most Best Picture nominees come out near the end of the year, and the one’s released at the beginning tend to go forgotten due to the amount of time it’s been out and it’s (I guess) lack of “freshness”. Anyway, I’m upset cause I have to wait longer now.
Big Fish should still be an Oscar contender if it gets its limited release on December 18.
Of course, I’ll have to wait another month for the movie to finally get out here to Hickville (suburban Arizona). There are only two theatres near me, one with 27 screens and one with 25 screens. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them playing more than five or six movies at once. As an independent film fan, I have to wait for DVDs to see a lot of movies because all we get are big-budget studio fare.
BartNfink93 is right. I think the Academy rules are that a film needs to play for 5 days in a theater in LA county to be eligable for a nomination. That’s why a butt load of movies always get released in the second half of December.
By the way, I think it’s a huge warning sign that they’re doing a platform release of the filck unstead of the big nation wide release they had planned. I don’t think this bodes well for the flick. At least, I think it shows the confidence that the studio has in it!
I think everyone is missing the BIG picture here…
…this will give Danny more time to work on the film. I don’t care about the awards, I just want the film and music to be the best they can be. Talk about BUZZ is cheap, but the movie and music will last if they are good.
Nat
This is a bit disappointing….but hey, the release date is only 2 days before my birthday, so I can go see it to celebrate!
>>>By the way, I think it’s a huge warning sign that they’re doing a platform release of the filck unstead of the big nation wide release they had planned. I don’t think this bodes well for the flick. At least, I think it shows the confidence that the studio has in it!>>>
What like Schindler’s List, or most Coen brothers pics? Studios release films in this slow wave approach when they want something to be noticed and not swallowed up by bigger, more high profile projects. It means that Big Fish is not shiny apple mainstream, but that it’s good enough that they think word of mouth will carry it… and that they want it to be eligible for awards in the meantime.
Why not push it out earlier? Because Dec. films generally fare better in the Oscar race, and because they’re clearly not going to rush it through the post process. That means that Danny has more time. That’s good. Danny pressed for time write Planet of the Apes. Danny with a lot of time writes Edward Scissorhands.
The studio just stepped up to bat and pointed at the back fence. This is a very positive sign.
“This is a bit disappointing….but hey, the release date is only 2 days before my birthday, so I can go see it to celebrate!”
Funny, because the original release date was only a few days from my birthday.
Looks like fate likes you better Red Raven.
Nat
“Danny pressed for time write Planet of the Apes. Danny with a lot of time writes Edward Scissorhands.”
I don’t see how we can compare those two. They’re both great in their own way.
I’d call it a bad sign because at one point the studio was planning on doing a big nation-wide release of this sucker (it was supposed to be a film, afterall, with a somewhat broad appeal). Platform releases are structured the way they are so if audiences hate the flick in the first few cities (or if no one flat out comes to see it), the studio reduces the number of theaters the film was scheduled to expand to and moves it along to video somewhat quickly. With the cast that Burton has, I doubt that Sony is at a loss for how to market this film. Throw Ewan McGregor’s name up on the poster in big, bold letters. He’s done pretty well at the box office lately. Albert Finney, Helena Bonham Carter, and a small appearace by Danny DeVito are potential draws too, to say nothing of Burton’s built-in fanbase.
So why the platform release? Burton’s films have never been smiled on too brightly by the Academy Awards people, so I’m guessing that Oscar consideration is out. I’d wadger that it means one of two things: BIG FISH is either really weird or really bad. I pray for ‘weird’ (along the same lines as ED WOOD, if we’re really lucky), but who knows? His last project, PLANET OF THE APES, is easily the worst film he’s made. Come to think of it, MARS ATTACKS! was really shitty too. I like SLEEPY HOLLOW, but wonder sometimes if I don’t admire it more for the amazing cinematography and set design than for the story, pacing, etc. I’ll hope for the best, but the disturbing trend has been that ever since Burton made ED WOOD, he’s sort of become Ed Wood.
A french critic once wrote :
“Since Ed Wood, Burton doesn’t make films speaking of Tim anymore but makes films of Tim.”The man is evolving. He’s moving to another step of his career. His movies talk about politic and social relations now : Mars Attacks was an acerbic reading of his country, the way he sees it and the way he’d like to see it. The american man (and occidental too) is shown in a very pathetic way (and also in Pota : Whalberg finally becomes a human, capable to care for his own kind, and sees now how his compatriots look like behind their masks). Sleepy Hollow also has a very strong reading of our ethical problems (science vs religion, the groupe of midle-class persons – themes that are now central in his filmography).
So before saying “it sucks”, make an effort and try to conceive that he has a new look over things. An other french critic called it (and i think it’s completely true) “poetic ethic”. He showed the first part of the definition during the first part of his career. Now, he’s showing the other side.
Again : like Danny is, Tim is in another phase ! Maybe his genius is not so impressive anymore, but i’m pretty sure, is much more subtle.And the way you’re making suppositions about the cast or his abilities to direct, just makes me sick. Who are you ? Nostradamus ?
Let the movies live their life. Stop crying, screaming, jumping at every news, every new trailer, images, etc. The only truth is on the screen. So, as the movie is not out, i don’t understand how you dare speak about it.“So why the platform release? Burton’s films have never been smiled on too brightly by the Academy Awards people, so I’m guessing that Oscar consideration is out.”
Actually they are pushing for Oscar consideration. The buzz for this film has been ecstatic.
Yo, a couple quick things.
Sift through my posts above and see if I said, “it sucks” or “it’s going to suck” anywhere. I think the only thing vaguely approaching that is this line: ” I’d wadger that it means one of two things: BIG FISH is either really weird or really bad.” Please note that I go on to say that “weird” is not a bad thing in my book. I’ll stand behind my assessment that it’s a trouble sign that the flick was delayed, though. I’ve worked in film and TV for a little over two years in LA, and I can tell you that a shift this major probably means that movie isn’t what the studio folk though it was going to be. Again: this could be good… could be bad. The fact is, however, that they’ve taken off a big holliday weekend and put it in a platform release starting at the end of the year. It will hit most of the country in January and that’s _not_ a month that has any disctinction as far as box office records go. In fact, January – March is sort of a dumping ground for movies that studios think are not likely to cause riots at the ticket offices. There’s very little competition in those months, so if a so so movie comes out then, it has a better chance of making its money back than if it had been released in, say, July. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it _does_ indicate, I believe, that the studio doesn’t have as much confidence in the movie’s financial prospects as it once did. This is unfortunate, but a studio would almost always rather have a mega hit like MEN IN BLACK 2 than a modest success that wins Oscars. If a film happens to do both, more power to it, but never forget that movies are a business and most decisions — like it or not — are made accordingly.
Along with this, I should say that my favorite Burton movie — ED WOOD — is also, I think, the one that’s made the least amount of money.
As far as Oscar buzz goes… no one, to my knowledge, has actually seen this picture yet, so who knows? I know some people at VFX houses who have seen a few random shots, but who can judge a movie based on that?
Oh, and lastly… the book is really good. Don’t hesitate to read it.
Alright, i misunderstood then and agree with your analysis.
Oh that’s cool. Actually, I kind of like the healthy discussion. Keep in mind that I could also not know what the hell I’m talking about!
I don’t like when they release things this way because it means taht by the time I get to see it, it will have been talked out and any kind of surprises that were held back in teh pre-release hype will have been let out of the bag and I may as well wait for it to hit rental and save a few bucks.
Eh, who cares what anyone does says or thinks about it? Bottom line is, is that it’s getting released eventually, and therefore must be watched!
Seems to me that Tim pretty much does movies how they should be done, which is to focus on the material at hand, and not if it’s gonna be a huge hit or something. I mean, all the awards and money and such seem pretty trivial when you’re doing something for the sake of doing it, you dig? Granted that isn’t the way society works, but I still say artistic integrity stands for something.
(And, Sleepy Hollow was released after Ed Wood. Say what you will, but Sleepy Hollow was saucy)!
I just love that man’s vision. He puts a whole tone into his films that take people forever to learn how to do, and really makes them his. I mean, they are just so DARK! I think that is why Danny Elfman makes such a great match when it comes to the music, and I cannot WAIT to see what they do with this next one!
Knight (Here is an example of another director trying to have vision: Dick Tracy Muahahaha)
I was trying to find a quote that I read where Richard Zanuck said that Big Fish is one of the best (if not, the best), movies he’s ever produced.
I’d love to see Big Fish get some Oscars, even from the dopy Academy.
I put that and the link to the news in my site but the rest is in bahasa Indonesia, check it here: http://www.geocities.com/s129002kl/Pembuatan#bigfish
Oh, here it is.
Taken from USAtoday.com:
(…But producer Richard D. Zanuck swears he’s not telling fish stories when he ranks the movie higher than any he has previously produced (including the Oscar-winning The Sting or Driving Miss Daisy) or that he oversaw when he ran 20th Century Fox (including The Sound of Music, M*A*S*H, The French Connection and Patton).
“This is at the top of the list,” says Zanuck of Big Fish, an all-star movie directed by Tim Burton and featuring Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito and Allison Lohman. “Certainly not since Driving have I ever had such a good, positive feeling.”)
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