This baffles me. As the author of the article below says, this film is ALREADY on people's Oscar radars, so why bother moving it to the beginning of the new year? And the so-called "logic" at the end of the graph? Nonsense. If the 10 Best Picture slots idea is still around next year, then wouldn't movie studios want to put more films at the end of the year, so that they're really fresh on people's minds when the nomination ballots are sent out? And if the Academy returns to only having five Best Picture nominees for 2010, then Shutter Island is royally screwed. Paramount, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
Source: DeadlineHollywood.com
SHOCKER! Paramount Moves Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' To February 19, 2010
EXCLUSIVE: This Shutter Island decision is now the second major studio pic to jump from fall 2009 to February 2010 (after Universal's The Wolfman recently moved off November). But Paramount's adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel directed by Marty Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio looked entrenched for October 2nd and this coming awards season. For godsakes, the pic is already on people's Oscar list. Such a surprise delay is just going to compound all the buzz surrounding the picture and its great trailer released in June. An insider tells me. "It tested in the high 80s/low 90s and Scorsese even brought it down to 2 hours." So what's the problem? I hear that Paramount told the filmmakers it doesn't have the financing in 2009 to spend the $50M to $60M necessary to market a big awards pic like this. ("Given where the DVD business is in 2009, our only hope is the economy and the retail business rebounds in 2010 because the hardest hit segment has been movies that play to an older adult audience," a studio source tells me.) So the studio settled on the release date of mid-February because "that's when Silence Of The Lambs came out" back in 1991 and it won the Oscar. "Now that the Academy has Best Picture to 10 films," an insider notes to me, "it will be easier for a movie that came out in the beginning of the year to get nominated for Best Picture."
*UPDATE: I'm also told that, among the many reasons for the move, Leo wasn't going to be available to promote the pic internationally.*
Um...guys? In case you haven't noticed, Mr. DiCaprio is not the only star you have in your arsenal to promote the film. You've got Mark Ruffalo, Sir Friggin' Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, and Patricia Clarkson.
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