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Sunday
25Oct2009

'Precious' Wins Again in Chicago

DateSunday, October 25, 2009 at 6:41AM
The indie flick Precious keeps racking up impressive festival wins. You'll start seeing more about it in just a couple weeks, I'm guessing, as Lionsgate looks to win its first Best Picture Oscar since Crash. Having the names Oprah and Tyler Perry behind it should sell plenty of tickets, but the accolades seem to indicate a healthy run for awards during the upcoming self-congratulatory season.

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire took home its fourth audience award of the year at the Chicago International Film Festival, finishing just ahead of another movie generating plenty of attention these days, Lone Scherfig’s An Education. The Chicago win follows victories at Sundance, Toronto, and at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain.

The theatrical release date is November 6th, but that's not when it's going wide. The plan is to have it expand on the 13th and then again on the 20th. By that point, Lionsgate should have the film in most of the theaters it's planning to use, although I suspect if the release goes as well as the festival circuit has, then Lionsgate might push this more aggressively into December.

However, it's not an easy path to the Oscars for Precious. Director Lee Daniels made some rather self-aggrandizing statements recently that some insiders say could cause a complete backlash to the film. You could look at this week's Gotham Awards, which shut out Precious.

Daniels, a second-time director, claims in a New York Times piece that he co-directed Monster's Ball, as if Marc Forster needs the help, and that he gave Halle Berry her line readings for her Oscar-winning performance. Neither of those things is likely to endear him to votes.

But it could be this year's Slumdog, not that I'm one who considers things on scales like "this year's (insert last year's talking point)." But others absolutely operate that way. If the mood is right, Precious could still have quite a winter.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

I saw it. it's a very good film and i am guessing it will go far

Sunday, October 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterNelson

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