Sony’s Fall 2012 Oscar Date Now Goes To A Kevin James Comedy
Perhaps in reaction to a New York Times piece plotting that the Obama administration was unlawfully providing Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal access to details of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination to boost the president’s own political agenda, Sony Pictures has now pushed back the duo’s black-ops thriller from its planned October 12th unveiling to a date later in 2012, possibly even 2013, placing its release after the next election.
It’s not known if political agendas had anything to do with the move (or the fact that the movie seemingly hasn’t been cast yet or started shooting making a release a year from now a challenge) but surely the NY Times piece and the calls for an investigation into the matter by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) did not help. But the move does take the issue of partisanship off the table, which will likely quell any chances of this becoming more of an issue down the line.
Controversy aside, we’re actually more curious about the script updates from Boal, who has rewritten the project to include the assassination of Bin Laden. The film‘s mooted star Joel Edgerton recently told us that Bin Laden’s death meant the project became “kind of like a house of cards, it had to be kind of knocked over and rebuilt.” What do we know of the pic then? It’s a black-ops thriller that will star an ensemble of male actors cast in special ops/commando roles, and it will center around the hunt for the renowned Al Qaeda leader. That’s about it. And oh yeah, the firefight to kill Bin Laden will be included in some fashion in the finished screenplay.
With “Kill Bin Laden” set aside, what film has Sony put in as its replacement for the October 12th date? Oscar pundits, get ready to the blown away by the Kevin James-led comedy “Here Comes The Boom,” which co-stars Salma Hayek and follows a high school biology teacher who moonlights as a mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to save the school’s music program. The film jumps from its previously scheduled summer release to replace Bigelow’s.
Another change on the Sony calendar sees Roland Emmerich‘s period drama “Anonymous” take a step back. Originally set to unveil nationwide next week, the studio has made a last-minute change with the film now set to open in limited release, screening in only 250 theaters. Pre-release surveys reportedly predicted that the film was set for a poor opening weekend leading the studio to drop it from thousands of theaters it was going to screen in.
The film does have its supporters so we’re somewhat surprised by the move, but we aren’t exactly holding high hopes for what more or less looks like Emmerich’s attempt at Oscar-bait. Featuring a surprisingly talented cast including Edward Hogg, David Thewlis, Vanessa Redgrave, Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson and Rafe Spall, “Anonymous” centers on a British earl who some claim was the true author of William Shakespeare’s plays.
