Originally scheduled for a March 23, 2011 limited release, right after its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, Summit Entertainment has pushed back the release of “The Beaver” to May 6.
Directed by Jodie Foster and starring Foster, Mel Gibson, Anton Yelchin and “Winter’s Bone” star Jennifer Lawrence, the dramedy centers on a troubled husband and executive (Gibson) who adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating. Written by Kyle Killen, “The Beaver” topped the Blacklist in 2008. Almost immediately, it attracted the attention of names like Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey before landing in the hands of Foster who made the stroke of genius move to hire Gibson.
Why the release date move? Is the film in trouble or not up to snuff? Fortunately, the film is not being jerked off the SXSW schedule which is definitely a good sign and the trailer already looks great. Deadline says the release date bump is because Foster is in Europe shooting a movie and early May will give her more time to promote it. We’ll buy that for now, SXSW is just around the corner and not pulling the film means Summit has nothing to hide. The film will open in limited release on May 6th and go wide on May 20th. [BOM]
