In Contention

Tag: Newmarket Films

  • Peter Weir and ‘The Way Back’ set to enter the race

    Good news for Peter Weir fans.  I’m hearing a press release announcing that the Aussie director’s first film in seven years will be given a fighting chance in this year’s film awards season is imminent.

    The film, of course, is “The Way Back.” Newmarket Films was announced as the distributor on opening day of this year’s Telluride Film Festival (where Weir was in attendance for a tribute and the film saw its world premiere). It was immediately slated for a January 21, 2011 wide release date, but there was no indication that it would have a presence in the Oscar season.

    Just last week, Newmarket president and co-founder Chris Ball pulled back from the company to form a new shingle, Wrekin Hill Entertainment, and “The Way Back” was announced as one of the company’s first releases (jointly with Newmarket). And today it looks like the film will be slated for a one-week Oscar qualifying run in December.

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  • TELLURIDE: Newmarket picks up ‘Way Back’ for Jan. release

    I have to say, if Newmarket Films isn’t planning an Oscar qualifying run in December for “The Way Back” (and nothing in the release or news stories indicates that it’s in the cards), then it’s quickly off the table as a must-see in the early stages of Telluride.  I’ll see it, mind you (I’ve been very much looking forward to it), but the “Never Let Me Go” world premiere may have just moved to the head of the line for tomorrow morning.

    Anyway, the film is set for release on January 21.  That’s prime launching ground for a film with a qualifying run, so I don’t know, maybe there’s more to it.  Jeff Sneider reports at The Wrap that an individual familiar with the situation says the studio is “still considering” a qualifying run.

    I actually chatted with Weir briefly this afternoon.  Apparently the decision to bow the film at Telluride was somewhat last minute, or at least pretty late in the game (which is why it was probably the biggest surprise inclusion on this morning’s schedule).

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Festival pick-ups, the season’s fetes and the PGA’s 10

    Robert Duvall in Get Low• We wrapped up Toronto as Lee Daniels’s “Precious” took the festival’s audience award, putting it on a solid track for Oscar.

    • We got a look at the first trailer for “Harry Brown,” which may or may not be an awards film for actor Michael Caine.  John, you’ll recall, isn’t feeling it.

    • We saw ‘Meatball’ dominance at the box office in this weekend’s Sunday Cents column.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column kicked off our weekly Oscar coverage with a call for perspective on the perceived Best Picture frontrunners, while a new weekly column from across the pond — The Long Shot — introduces a different perspective mid-week.

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  • Newmarket nabs ‘Creation’ for December release

    (from left) Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany in CreationThe press release, in part:

    Newmarket Films announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights to director Jon Amiel’s CREATION, a film which focuses on Charles Darwin and his family as he struggles to finish his legendary book “On The Origin of Species,” which went on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology. The screenplay was written by John Collee, based on the biography “Annie’s Box” which was penned by Darwin ‘s great-great grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. The film was produced by Jeremy Thomas at Recorded Picture Company (The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast), with BBC Films and Ocean Pictures.

    CREATION stars real-life couple Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) and Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream, A Beautiful Mind) as Darwin and wife. Newmarket ’s Chris Ball and Robert Fyvolent negotiated the deal for Newmarket , and HanWay Films CEO Tim Haslam negotiated on behalf of the producer. Newmarket plans to release the film in December.

    Meh…