Focus Features have updated their upcoming release schedule with Sofia Coppola’s drama “Somewhere” now set for a December 22nd release while Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “It’s Kind Of A Funny Story” has been moved up from November to a September 24th release.
“Somewhere,” of course, stars Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning and centers on a hard-living Hollywood star whose transient life at the Chateau Marmont is turned on its head when his estranged, 11 year old daughter drops in for an unexpected visit. It recently skipped the Cannes Film Festival due to helmer Coppola’s pregnancy but, according to star Dorff, will feature later this year at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. The newly-announced late fall release further strengthens the film’s position as an award-season frontrunner in what will be Coppola’s first picture since 2006’s “Marie Antoinette.”
Fleck and Boden’s ‘Funny Story,’ meanwhile, had been pegged for a November release but will now evidently hit theaters on September 24th, the same day fellow Focus pic “The Eagle Of The Ninth” is scheduled, and only three weeks after the release of Anton Cobijn’s “The American” starring George Clooney. The film is an adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s novel of the same name and follows a young teen who checks himself into a mental ward, only to find himself stuck in the adult unit. Could the new release date imply anything about its quality and Oscar-potential or lack thereof? November is definitely a better Oscar date and post-TIFF doesn’t instill a lot of confidence, but we guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Focus have a pretty healthy plate of films at the moment with Lisa Chodolenko’s much-buzzed “The Kids Are All Right” also hitting in the summer before the aforementioned quartet of flicks. The fact “Somewhere” has been isolated in the fall though may suggest that the studio is ready to really push it for the award-season. Either way, it’ll be a great Christmas present before the likes of the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit” hits on Christmas Day.
