Gilliams' 'Parnassus' Can't Find a Distributor

Thursday

12Mar2009

Gilliams' 'Parnassus' Can't Find a Distributor

Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 11:27PM

We just might have to keep imagining The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the latest Terry Gilliam film and Heath Ledger's final performance.

Entertainment Weekly (via WENN) reports that the film is having trouble finding a distributor, and extending that further, the magazine notes that studio executives are wondering if "the surrealistic movie will ever draw a big audience," in spite of the fact that it is Ledger's last work, and that he was replaced in the film by the trio of Jude Law, Colin Farrell, and Johnny Depp.

The film has wrapped production, and we'll probably get more clarity on this film once a final print is available, but for the time being nobody is gobbling this up. One would have to assume that the troubled economy has something to do with why a Fox or a Sony or even a Magnolia or and IFC Films hasn't pitched a deal to the film's producers. Of course, the troubled economy isn't a very good reason; the movies are up at the box office 18% over 2008 to this point. So I think, even if it's a very weird film, with Ledger and Depp, you can sell plenty of curiosity tickets.

For his part, Gilliam - whose reputation as a filmmaker has never helped him get films purchased and distributed - believes Doctor Parnassus will make believers out of studios as soon as it is completed. "[They're] going to be astonished when they see the film, and there will be a rush to want it. So I'm happy to wait."

Colin Boyd |

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Colin Farrell,

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