Caffeinated Clint
Anyone that’s walked up to the box-office, say 20 or 30 times in their life, to buy a ticket for something showing on the silver screen knows that there’s a period each year in which the not-so-good movies come out. Generally, it’s just after all the big Oscar Contenders come out – which happens between October and December – and just before the U.S Summer Blockbusters start to roll out. It’s about… well, now. And a big hello to those reading from “Pompeii”.
It’s not always the case, but when a film is scheduled for January or February it generally means that it’s not much chop. Take this month, for example, there’s probably one really good, solid film due for release; the rest are films from the ‘Jesus, what do we do with this junk?’ pile.
So when Warner Bros announced this week that they’re releasing Guy Ritchie’s “Man from U.N.C.L.E” movie next January, most understandably wrote the film off as a complete disaster. While I don’t believe that’s the case – the script was apparently quite good – the date doesn’t bode well for what, just a couple of years ago, was tipped to be one of its years biggest releases. But then, that was when Tom Cruise was attached – not the guy from ‘The Lone Ranger’. It could simply be that Warners does have a good film, but knows that it doesn’t feature any big stars (Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer star), so doesn’t want to take too much of a risk by releasing it smack-bang in the middle of Summer or up against the Christmas day releases. If Cruise had done the movie, I’d almost put money on Warners scheduling the movie for a more pleasing release slot.
A January 16, 2015 release date is definitely more attractive than say, February 27 though. Oh look! That’s when Will Smith’s next one, “Focus” is coming out. This is the con-man movie with Smith as the veteran schemer, and young hottie Margot Robbie as his protege and love interest. Smith’s a big star- – from 1999. He just can’t open movies anymore… we saw that last year when “After Earth” flopped like a bloodless Johnson. And considering Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart exited the film during its swift per-production phase (yep, we live in a world where Ben Affleck is now a fussier, bigger name than Will Smith), there’s always a whiff of worry about the thing. Be interested to see whether the Warner release is as average as its release date suggests it is.
Warners have also scheduled a Liam Neeson actioner called “Run All Night” for Feb, 2015. Now this doesn’t scream ‘bad film’, it simply means the movie is a popcorn flick in the vein of Neeson’s “Taken” movies, and the “Non-Stop” thing of his that’s coming out next week. A movie like ‘Taken on an airplane’ has no change in hell competing with the big boys during the holiday season, so it’s actually probably a smart movie leaving it to February. And maybe “Non-Stop” is tracking well, and that’s why Warners has decided to release their Neeson movie at the same time next year? Anywho, “Run All Night” will be out February 6, 2015.
