Friday
Oct172008
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 4:10AM 'The Road' Likely Out of the Running for 2008 Awards
Just when it seemed as though the awards contenders were
lining up, three possible nominees have been moved around...in the last two
days! Let's begin with the most crushing blow to the awards season, the removal
of
The Road from the 2008 schedule.
That's really sad. I know that a lot of people were really looking forward to The Road, and I can't imagine what would delay it so much in post-production, unless test results were just that negative. I don't know that to be the case, but I'm troubled by the possibility.
Another big shift is in the cards for The Soloist, which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Paramount has picked that December movie up by the ears and thrown it to March, which sounds like a lack of confidence in what they've got. March is not the time to release a movie you think can win awards, plus you lose all the Robert Downey momentum built this year with two other Paramount films. Interesting.
In fact, Downey's own work in Tropic Thunder could be a contributor. Variety reports that the studio might push him in the Best Supporting Actor category (which they should), and the actor may have given the greenlight to shoo The Soloist until 2009.
Paramount has also pushed back Defiance to December 31st, and it will still receive an Oscar push, although it seems likely that the studio's two major thrusts will be Revolutionary Road and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Truly, working four films aggressively for many of the same awards is not a smart way to go.
There are also financial considerations, given that the economy blows and these moves by Paramount could save the studio over $50 million in the fourth quarter.
So what does that do for the Oscars? I say it opens the doors really wide for The Love Guru. Who's with me?
Reader Comments (2)
I say, though I am heavily pissed off that the oad and soloist are going to be pushed back, not only may they have better chances in a possibly less crowded race next year, this also opens up a pic nod for the dark knight and if the studio chooses to they may have a spot for heath's joker in a lead nomination because I know some talk of that is going around.
Not a big surprise if it didn't test well - the book makes "I Am Legend" look like "Driving Miss Daisy". And if they're true to the most shocking portions of the book, they're not likely to get a R rating. Maybe that's the issue here, getting a cut of the film that they can get past the MPAA and still get a R.