In terms of Oscar potential alone (and not quality or even financial success...though this is the kind of film that needs a lot of "prestige" buzz to do well, sorry, I don't think the name alone will be enough--see PHANTOM, RENT, and THE PRODUCERS) I do worry that this new release date means the film won't be finished in time to be screened for the important groups they need to build buzz: critics' circles, the HFPA and the guilds. This happened last year with EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE and GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTTOO, the films were not finished in time to be screened for some groups, they failed to gain that early buzz and ultimately had disappointing showings both at the Oscars and at the box office (EXTREMELY LOUD picked up a random Best Picture nod and a Suporting Actor bid for Max Von Sydow, but the movie was DOA, and GIRL... was more successful but I think it had the potential to do a lot better).
We'll see, perhaps the extra time will indeed result in a better product and audiences will still flock to it, but I worry.
Here's Anne Thompson's (who's a very insightful Oscar columnist) take on the whole thing:
Universal Pictures would have loved to put "Les Miserables," Tom Hooper's follow-up to the Oscar-winning "The King's Speech," onto the fall festival circuit to build support and buzz. But the Working Title/Cameron Mackintosh epic period film adaptation of the global hit musical wasn't anywhere near ready.
Thus it is not a huge surprise that the studio is pushing back the movie, which stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, from December 14 to the last possible day that it could still recoup some major holiday business: December 25. It will open after "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Impossible," opposite Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."
This late a break could have an impact on the awards race if the movie isn't ready to screen by late November for critics groups such as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which nominates Golden Globes contenders, and the New York and LA Film Critics. This movie should be catnip for Oscar voters: it's got scale, scope, and top actors in period garb and settings. IndieWire
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Updated On: 9/21/12 at 09:22 AM