Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Quick Note / The Distributors 2018: Warner Brothers / Boy Erased and On the Basis of Sex Move / It's Nice to Have Friends

It's Tuesday and after an unexpected hiccup. MTFB has returned!

QUICK NOTE

As you may have noticed, there was no Monday post yesterday.  My apologies for that.  I was in Southern Colorado and caught up by the outage of Verizon, Comcast and Spectrum and had no real Internet connectivity from Friday until last night.

That kept me from getting MTFB's normal Monday post up.  I'm back today...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: WARNER BROTHERS



Here's today's take on film distributors and their Telluride history which could give insight into films that might play at TFF #45.

I'm looking today at a major studio which used to have an independent arm that was a  serious presence at Telluride (Warner Independent) and who has, on occasion since the demise of that arm, still made the field of TFFs.

Warner Bros recent history:

2012: Argo
2013: Gravity, Prisoners
2014:
2015: Black Mass
2016: Sully

Warner Independent played Telluride in 2006 with Infamous and 2007 with Rails and Ties.

If Warners is to return to Telluride this year it would almost certainly be with Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star Is Born starring Cooper and Lady Gaga in the story that has been filmed four times now by Hollywood.  A Star Is Born has a ton of buzz and is set for releases on Oct. 5th.

WB had great success in '12 and '13 with Argo winning Best Picture and Gravity just being edged by 12 Years a Slave (but winning Best Direction and six other Oscars) but both Black Mass and Sully failed to generate that same success.

Ultimately, I regard A Star Is Born as a 1 in 3 shot at making the TFF lineup.  Maybe I should have it with slightly better odds.  If Warners really thinks it is a serious Oscar player (and considering Telluride's recent track record regarding Oscar winners) you'd have to think that they'll push to get it in the lineup.

Here's the trailer for A Star Is Born from YouTube:







BOY ERASED AND ON THE BASIS OF SEX MOVE



Focus Features announced yesterday that they were shifting release dates for two of their fall releases.  Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased has moved from its original Sept. 28th release to a prime Nov. 2nd and On the Basis of Sex has moved from Nov. 9th to Dec. 26th.

A number of outlets reported on the change suggesting that the moves were made to better position both for awards consideration.

Especially intriguing is the new spot for Boy Erased which moves into a release spot that would allow it to play any or all of the fall fests including New York.

Alan French at Awards Circuit says the changes increase the "traction" potential for Boy Erased and does not mean that On the Basis of Sex won't be a part of the Festival scene.

Anne Thompson at Indiewire says that Boy Erased is "Expected to debut at the fall festivals".

My feeling here is that the move probably increases the Telluride chances for Telluride audiences to see Boy Erased and lowers them for On the Basis of Sex though it doesn't remove its chances of making The SHOW.

Coverage is linked here from Variety, Indiewire, Deadline and Awards Circuit.


IT'S NICE TO HAVE FRIENDS



I posted the first Ten Bets list of predictions for the Telluride lineup for 2018 last Friday. I always see an uptick in traffic to the blog each summer when I start the Ten Bets lists as people’s interest in the fest increases as we get closer to Labor Day weekend.

Friday’s post got an extra boost, however, thanks to an article written by Sasha Stone and posted to her website Awards Daily. Sasha has been a good friend to me as well as a supporter and booster of MTFB for quite awhile.

Many readers of the blog can’t help but noticing that I’m a big fan of hers as well as I often link to film news, trailers and such at her site. Sasha has also served as one of the industry pros that rate films for me during TFF. I also rely on her Oscar predicting prowess once the fest is over each year and I begin focusing on which films from TFF will be a part of the awards season conversation. You’ve also probably noticed that I added a blurb recently from Sasha to the banner at the top of my posts.

We’re buddies.

Another note from her Friday post...the films she thinks sound like good T-ride bets are: Beautiful Boy, If Beale Street Could Talk and Cold War.

So, my thanks to Sasha and here’s the link to the story at Awards Daily.





That's today's MTFB.  More to come on Thursday as I get back to the regular summer posting schedule.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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