Is Guy Ritchie’s “RockNRolla” looking for a new buyer? Ritchie’s fifth film is due in October via Warner Bros, but a report from Patrick Goldstein’s L.A. Times blog suggests that producer Joel Silver is shopping the film around to new buyers because WB is inundated with new films having acquired the run-off from New Line studios’ shuttering.
“A more likely scenario is that Silver is looking for a new home for the movie; a top executive at one of the studios said it was clear Silver was looking for a buyer for the film. People who’ve seen the film say it’s not bad at all. But as Warners goes through the arduous process of absorbing two dozen or so New Line films into its distribution system, the studio simply has too many movies to release, so it’s starting to pick out the weak calves from the herd.”
With the film coming out October 30 and playing the Toronto International Film Festival at the beginning of September this posit strikes us as sounding off, but WB chief Alan Horn asserts that Goldstein is not off base and says “Joel has an 800-screen deal, which we’ll honor, but we might not be willing to spend the marketing money he wants us to.”
“I think ‘RockNRolla’ is a well-made picture, but while it’s funny in spots, it’s very English. The filmmakers have every right to do what they think is best in support of their movies. But we have the right to do what’s best for Warner Bros. Sometimes the pursuit of those interests results in a disagreement. For now, we’re preparing to release the film in October, but I don’t see it starting out on 800 screens. If Joel is thinking there is someone out there willing to spend twice as much money as we’re willing to, I’m sure he will pursue that.”
While there’s apparently no “fire sale” over at WB, Horn admits the studio is overstocked and has been quietly bumping a lot of their films into 2009 (another New Line film, the Ed Norton and Colin Farrell NYPD cop drama “Pride and Glory,” is also apparently up for sale; though note a trailer was released and its date said October 24, 2008, are they trying to sell it that quickly? Will it get bumped if they can’t do it in that timeframe? It’s playing at the Toronto International Film Festival too).
Another film feeling the effects of WB’s NewLine surplus is Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” It was originally under the aegis of Warner Independent Pictures, but of course that shuttered earlier this spring as well. Acquired by WIP for $5 million, Warners is allegedly looking to sell it off to prospective buyers. The film, about an illiterate boy from the Mumbai slums who wins a ton of money on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” was originally due November 7 of this year (who knew?), but now has been bumped indefinitely (probably until they find a buyer).
Bad news in particular for Boyle. His Kubrickian 2007 film “Sunshine,” was rather fantastic and grossly underrated, but the film was totally overlooked. Just another reason why independent auteurs are having an increasingly difficult time getting their films off the ground and therefore taking years between movies. However, it seems that both the Telluride Film Festival and the TIFF ’08 want ‘Slumdog’ so some of us might get a chance to see it soon.
