Good Omens for Signal and other Limited Releases?
February 22, 2008
Oscar weekend is not a good time to put out a limited release as the target audience will be preoccupied. So it is a little strange that there is an Oscar nominated film, The Counterfeiters, coming out tonight.
The Counterfeiters - Reviews
Cover - Reviews
The Duchess of Langeais a.k.a. Ne Touchez Pas la Hache - Reviews
Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea - No Reviews
The Signal - Reviews
I am not happy with the release date for this film. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, but it is opening the weekend the Oscars are announced. So instead of being the best source of free advertisement, the Oscars are going to be the film's biggest competition. It's a good movie and should be seen, and hopefully it will do well enough over the next two days that when it likely takes a hit on Sunday, its weekend numbers will still be strong enough to warrant expansion. (Winning the Oscar wouldn't hurt either.) The Counterfeiters opens tonight in six theaters in New York City and the Los Angeles area.
This film was original supposed to come out in September but was delayed and should be coming out this weekend. However, it wasn't worth the wait. The movie is a murder-mystery told in flashback, or it least it uses that setup to sermonize about African-American men who are on the down low. The film's social message would be offensive if the film wasn't so poorly made. The obvious homophobic message is so ineptly delivered it would make Rev. Phelps donate money to GLAAD. Cover opens tonight in a dozen theaters in major cities nationwide.
Even my limited knowledge of French, I know Ne Touchez Pas la Hache does not mean The Duchess of Langeais. It means ummm... No Touch the Hatchet. ... Good advice. This movie is a period piece about Marie Antoinette and is reasonably good, but likely not good enough to survive limited release. The Duchess of Langeais opens tonight in two theaters, including the IFC Center in New York City.
A biopic of Genghis Khan. The film has no reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, no official site, no advanced buzz, and it is opening more theaters than this type of film should be. It's hard to be bullish about the film's chances given these facts.
A horror film opening in limited release; it's been a while since this has worked. Add in reviews that are just 50% positive, and there's little reason to suspect this movie will do well enough to expand over the coming weeks. It has an experimental aspect that is intriguing (the film was split into three with three different writer / directors handling each bit: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry). However, the end result is unlikely to draw in the horror buff or art house cinema aficionado. The Signal opens tonight nationwide in 160 theaters, which is way too high to survive.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Die Fälscher, Ne touchez pas la hache, The Signal, Cover, Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea