Things surrounding the Wachowski brothers’ return behind the camera on Cloud Atlas became very buzzy in the last 24 hours as a screening of the film took place here in Cannes recently of a 2 hours and 44-minute cut of the film. The screening resulted in what is being reported to be a $20 million pick-up by Warner Bros. with eyes on a December 6 release date later this year.
The film, based on the novel by David Mitchell, is an epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present and future as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a savior and a single act of kindness ripples out for centuries to inspire a revolution.
Starring in the feature, which was shot for a reported $101 million, are Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, James D’Arcy, Halle Berry and Keith David.
I included this on my early list of Best Picture predictions and beyond that, such a quick pick-up tells me we may be looking at something that’s quite good and I did hear some second hand news on the film yesterday, saying that’s exactly the case.
The December 6 release date would make for a Thursday release, one day before Hyde Park on Hudson, so otherwise it would be virtually alone for a week before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Les Miserables hit theaters on December 14. Sounds like overall good scheduling if you ask me as all four of those films seem to counter one another.
In other release date news, Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For will hit theaters on October 4, 2013 and Relativity Media has set a September 27, 2013 release for Robert Luketic’s Paranoia starring Liam Hemsworth, Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman.
