Variety’s Pamela McClintock was written a detailed piece examining the financial ins and outs of the recent postponing of “Shutter Island,” coming to the conclusion — as did Kris following the announcement — that the move is purely a practical one on the part of Paramount chief Brad Grey. Quite simply, she explains, the film stands to make more of a profit in February, free from the expense of awards-season marketing.
But while everyone has picked up on how the move potentially improves the fortunes of Paramount awards hopeful “The Lovely Bones,” McClintock suggests that it is Jason Reitman’s increasingly buzzy “Up in the Air” that is a more significant factor in this conversation. In picking Reitman’s far smaller film over Scorsese’s as a 2009 Oscar pony, the studio has pragmatically opted for the title that is cheaper to market — and to campaign:
Unofficially, Par has decided to throw its support behind George Clooney dark comedy and awards hopeful “Up in the Air,” directed by Jason Reitman. That film isn’t yet dated. Rumors are that it will be released in early December, but Par says a date won’t be decided upon until after the film makes its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
She continues:
“Up in the Air” cost only a fraction of what “Shutter Island” did to produce, so Par insiders say the writedown would be less. Plus, the studio can use the fest circuit as a key part of its marketing campaign and awards push.
Makes sense to me. I must admit that, as disappointed as I am about the “Shutter Island” delay from a cinemagoer’s perspective, I still don’t think of it as particularly bad news. Having read Dennis Lehane’s source novel, I’ve long been unconvinced that such a tricksy Gothic thriller is particularly likely to score with the Academy in any event, regardless of Scorsese’s recent Oscar success.
In fact, curious as it sounds, a director’s “recent Oscar success” is more often than not a strike against their awards chances. No Best Director champ has scored a nomination in the category for their first post-Oscar project since Woody Allen received back-to-back nods for “Annie Hall” and “Interiors” over 30 years ago. (Anthony Minghella, Barry Levinson and James L. Brooks at least nabbed writing and/or producing citations for their follow-up films.) Seriously, look it up — it’s a stat not enough Oscar-watchers seem to mention.
I’m personally relieved that “Shutter Island” is now clear of the high-pressure scrutiny of awards season, which can see perfectly worthwhile films carelessly tossed aside if they’re revealed to be anything less than surefire awards bait. In February, nobody’s going to care if Scorsese’s film is Academy-friendly or not — they’re going to care if it’s a rousing, entertaining movie, which, given the source material, is how it should be.
(And yes, I am aware that “The Departed” wasn’t much of an “Oscar movie” either, but there were any number of cumulative external factors — principally, the “give him the damn award already” sentiment — contributing to its campaign that “Shutter Island” doesn’t have. If “The Aviator” had followed through on its initial Oscar promise in 2004, would “The Departed” have won two years later? Not a chance. I’m not even convinced it would have been nominated.)
Money issues aside, “Up in the Air” was always better positioned for Oscar attention than “Shutter Island” by virtue of its director’s ascending career (and awards) momentum, and the comparative lack of pressure being placed on it earlier in the game — and it seems Paramount sensed that. Having said that, I also read the breezy, satirical source novel for Reitman’s film and didn’t spot the awards potential there either … so what do I know?
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11 responses to “How ‘Up in the Air’ factored in the ‘Shutter’ bump”
Methinks it’ll be a comedy that wins Best Picture this year – I have nothing to back this up except my reliable gut instinct (the same gut instinct that predicted The Departed would win Best Pic and Best Director before The Aviator lost those awards, but also the same gut instinct that predicted Revolutionary Road would scoop the top 5 this year).
As laid out weeks ago in an Off the Carpet column. Up in the Air was Paramount’s Oscar film with or without Scorsese in the mix.
Not suprising after the feel good “Slumdog” took the Oscar over more somber toned films last year, that a studio would opt to split their Oscar focus on two different genre of horses = one a somber toned film =Bones ..and ….the other lighter fare =”Up in the Air” …..
Just want to add …regardless of where “SI” is placed Oct 2nd or Feb 19th …I will be in line opening day to partake of Scorsese & DiCaprio’s next great adventure
I read the Jason Reitman script of Up in the Air earlier this year and compared to the book, it’s a bit different. Not to say I immediately felt it had awards consideration (rather that it just seemed like a fantastic film), but I don’t know. I definitely didn’t walk out of Juno thinking it would get writing/directing/picture Oscar noms either, but it did.
So I have a feeling that Up in the Air could be another one of those unconventional Oscar choices – which seems to be direction that Academy has been going in recent years. I loved Slumdog Millionaire, but up against Milk or Benjamin Button, I didn’t think it would win. Thankfully it did.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that even though the book doesn’t feel that way, Up in the Air definitely has that chance, albeit an unconventional one, but it might just have a chance.
Yeah, I’ve gathered that Reitman has taken the novel and run in his own direction with it, which is fine by me. I quite enjoyed the novel, but it struck me as too flip by half, and not a little heartless.
If its more like Thank You For Smoking and less like Juno, I’d be a happy boy.
Ya know Kris, I had been ruminating over that Best Director trivia bit myself. I’m not as razor sharp with that category as I am with acting, but I couldn’t think of any recent Best Directors who scored an immediate follow-up nomination post-win (UNLESS you count Clint Eastwood’s 2nd of dual 2006 releases, but technically, Flags came first….). So I always had a negative gut instinct about it, despite how intrigued I was.
You’re right though. In the spring (I suspect it’ll be moved from February to April, or at least March possibly, similar to The Soloist) or winter, if it stays put, people will be craving some rousing entertainment amidst all of the shlock that’s dumped in those early months. And SI will satisfy that craving easily.
(Didn’t sign the above properly. On my cell.)
On a lighter note, my utter desire for Up in the Air is maximizing as the weeks go by. I hope we get a few more image stills soon. I’m trying to make a collage and pictures of Farmiga and Bateman would be highly appreciated.
Yes, a fascinating bit of trivia re: the Best director winners – thanks for pointing it out. Thinking back a bit further, to 1960, it did happen a few other times – Bob Fosse (nominated for Lenny after winning for Cabaret), William Friedkin (nominated for The Exorcist after winning for The French Connection), John Schlesinger (nominated for Sunday Bloody Sunday after winning for Midnight Cowboy) and David Lean, who not only won for Lawrence of Arabia after winning for Kwai, but was also nominated for Zhivago after Lawrence! It’s especially intriguing, then, that it hasn’t happened once since Woody Allen in ’77/’78.
All I have to say about Up in the Air at this stage is that I like George Clooney more and more the older he gets, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he will do with this one.
The script for ‘Up In The Air’ was brilliant; I’d love to see some awards consideration assuming the final product matches up.