I will be doing a proper Oscar Update later today, but for now I felt it was important to point out two more festival pick-ups that will have an effect on the award season to come…
First off Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker received rave reviews out of the Toronto International Film Festival and was then picked-up by Summit Entertainment who apparently is looking to make an Oscar push at the same time it is making a Twilight push. The relatively virgin studio has found a potential Oscar contender and now we just have to see if the Academy can get over the Iraq War factor that tends to plague so many films. We know it will be a hard sell to audiences, but the Academy has been relatively kind to the war films. Even the dreadful In the Valley of Elah earned a nom last year.
The other big sale is Che, which didn’t go to Magnolia as expected. IFC Films picked up the Argentinian biopic starring Benicio del Toro. IFC will release the two pics (The Argentine and Guerilla) for a one-week qualifying awards run in December with screenings in New York and Los Angeles. They will then release the films for a day-and-date distribution in January. The biopic will be available at the same time in theaters and via video-on-demand as well as Blockbuster Video.
IFC president Jonathan Sehring calls Che “the film event of the year”, which makes me wonder why it was such a hard sell after getting mixed reviews following the Cannes festival. After Toronto it will show at the upcoming New York Film Festival prior to its theatrical release.
