Lest you forget it was a real, happening project, Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game is currently shooting and will soon be the next blockbuster priority for Summit. Apparently rejiggering their plans and slate with their parent Lionsgate during this post-Hunger Games blowout, the studios have decided to push Ender’s Game back just short of a year to November 1st, 2013 from its original date on March 13th, 2013. This puts it a mere three weeks before Catching Fire, if the Hunger Games sequel gets its shit straight and makes its own intended release date.
This comes from THR, who point out that Lionsgate and Summit are now empowered to roll their marketing efforts for the two films together, though without a lot of crossover stars I’m not sure where the synergy comes from. This feels more like it would divide efforts, but they suggest Ender’s Game will benefit from being mentioned and promoted along with the phenomenon sequel.
Weirdness aside, the extra months may be a boon as I like the idea of any film that’s able to start marketing once it’s actually somewhat complete. This stops films from having oddly thin debuts as was the case with effects-heavy blockbusters like Green Lantern and The Avengers, which only had a meager amount of unfinished spectacle spat out of the computer to cut with when they put out their first teasers. In recent contrast, I’m finding the campaign for Dark Shadows pretty effective as example of a film that the studio held back until they mostly had it together.
Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld.
5 comments
Huh, really not sure what you mean by that last sentence.
If the reaction on most sites I frequent is any indication (including this one), Dark Shadows has failed miserably to incite enthusiasm. It will still make money because Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have their built-in audiences of die-hard fans, but the footage (finished or not) hasn’t been that effective, unless being derisively mocked was the intention.
On the other hand, Green Lantern and Avengers both started out coasting mainly on fanboy enthusiasm but both were tracking really strong after their first trailers were unleashed. Green Lantern crashed and burned off horrible word-of-mouth, but Avengers still looks strong for Marvel.
I don’t know about the public at large, but the DARK SHADOWS trailer has me interested in a Tim Burton film for the first time in years.
I guess they’re going for a bit older Ender, because I thought he was like 12 at the end of the book. All I can hope is that this is treated as serious science fiction and not watered down for the tweenipoppers. After all the novella had hardcore child-on-child violence, death, and (sexless) nudity; the subject matter is plausible, poignant, and treated with intelligence. I’d be surprised if the film could pull a Triple Lindy on both fronts.
Yeah, same here. This feels more like something from early Burton than ALICE Burton.
I couldn’t agree more. Very well said.
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