Good news and bad news. Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will make its world premiere at the Times BFI London Film Festival which runs October 14 through 29 according to THR. Good for the film, but that means the film won’t premiere early at the Venice Film Festival or the Toronto International Film festival, both of which happen in September.
Variety already said that ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox had applied to the Venice Film Festival (and even then it seemed doubtful if the picture would get accepted) and this probably means it’s been turned down and if TIFF didn’t pick it up, well, this might be tacit understanding of its quality. Or maybe the picture’s just not ready yet? We’re not saying it’s bad, but it appears that Venice and therefore probably TIFF passed on the film, which sorta speaks for itself, especially since Venice pretty much loves Anderson and held the world premiere of “The Darjeeling Limited.”
Update: Fox Searchlight tell us that the studio themselves passed on both TIFF and Venice film festivals, not the other way around. In fact, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” offered the opening night slot at the New York Film Festival, but they passed. Bold move. Maybe they’re just thinking London is the right fit for the picture, we might make sense considering Roald Dahl is British and the animation seems to be U.K. inspired? Yes, exactly. A PR rep for Searchlight also notes that the film was shot in London so a U.K. premiere felt like the best fit for the project. They also add, “we would have liked to have been in those festivals (and the festivals would have liked the film) to be opening night at London FF you have to be the World Premiere and the key festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto, New York) are finished before London begins.”
This also likely means the film won’t screen at the New York Film Festival which typically ends by the time London will have even started so North American audiences won’t have a chance to see the film until it’s in theaters on November 13. Btw, we posted a bunch of images early last week and pointed you to our photobucket account to see the rest and we were never sure if that section was accessible to outsiders or what, so here’s a bunch of new images. Oh and note, THR re-confirms all the voice actor names we listed out weeks ago including Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker, Eric Anderson, etc.
