Drew Barrymore's 'Whip It!' Gets a New Release Date

Fox Searchlight just let me know that the release date for Whip It! has been changed from October 9th to October 2nd. We'll review the competition in each week in a moment. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, then you should, if only to see how closely the spirit of the film appears to mirror that of its way-too-positive director and co-star, Drew Barrymore. And it appears that Drew has plucked a pretty good cast for this, meaning she might have an eye for this sort of thing down the road. Ellen Page stars as a listless teenager looking for a release and finds catharsis by joining a local roller derby team, and Barrymore casts herself, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, and Eve as fellow derby girls. Marcia Gay Harden plays Page's mom, in the kind of role she can do with her eyes shut by now. So what's on October 2nd that makes it so appealing to Whip It! and Fox Searchlight? Well, there are some major players. Scorsese's Shutter Island and the Toy Story 3-D re-releases hit that weekend, as well as the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, which will probably open in just New York that week. What's really appealing for Searchlight, I would think, is moving the film away from Vince Vaughn's Couples Retreat, which does open on October 9th, will open at number one because he draws male and female audiences, and would therefore cut a huge swath through the target demo for Whip It!, which I unhesitatingly suggest would be women under 30. Plus, let's remember, the people at Fox Searchlight know exactly what the hell they're doing. Currently, Amelia is slotted for October 23rd, so this gives the studio a bigger cushion between the only two films on its calendar right now. That also creates a bigger area in November/December for Searchlight to find something valuable at Venice or Toronto next month, give it a great push just in time for the Oscars, and watch the money roll in. In short, this is probably part of a bigger strategy than just finding a great weekend for Drew's new movie.

Comments

[Anna]

What's going to happen now that Shutter Island got pushed back to February 2010?
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/shocker-paramount-moving-scorsesedicaprios-shutter-island-to-february-2010/

[Get The Big Picture]

In terms of this film? Probably nothing. But that does give some studio a little more wiggle room with a wide release if they're up against something big right now.

[Tim]

One less movie for "Whip It!" to compete with for screens on the weekend of 10/2.

[SheLa]

Oct 2nd is the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Western Regionals in Denver, so that means 8 western teams and their fans will not have time to go see the movie, because they will be kicking butt on the track!! So by opening Oct 2nd, instead of Oct 9th, 70-100 (skaters per team) times 8 (teams) times 100's (of fans) will have to wait to see the movie!! I'm so bummed!

[petal to the metal]

how are teams getting free tickets to the movie?