Probably the most common reason for a
film's delay would be if the film goes through re-shoots, which
leaves a bit of doubt over whether or not the original product was
any good. But would you ever believe it if a film was pushed back
just a few weeks before it was originally supposed to come out
because one of its stars suddenly became an A-Lister in Hollywood and
the first version of the film killed his character off at the
beginning? That is the case with 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation', which is
probably the most intriguing delayed film of this year. The sequel to
2009's 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' was first set for a June 29th
release date. But just five weeks before the film was to hit theaters
(press junkets had been planned and toys were already on store
shelves), it was suddenly pushed back to March of 2013. There are a
few conflicting reports as to why this happened.
When the delay was first announced, it
was reported that the film was going to be post-converted to 3-D. But
then, there were new reports that the film was to go through
re-shoots Apparently, in the original cut of the film, the character
of Duke (played by Channing Tatum, reprising his role from the
previous film) was to be killed off early in the film, something that
was clearly evident from the first trailer that was released before
the film's delay. The re-shoots were done with the intent of
strengthening the relationship between Duke and the new lead
Roadblock (played by Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson) but more importantly
to avoid the early death as this was right around the time that Tatum
had become a huge star with box-office hits 'The Vow', '21 Jump
Street', and 'Magic Mike'. In fact, the latter film was released the
same weekend Retaliation would have come out.
But recently there has been reports
that contradict what has been said. In an interview with Collider in
late January (link will be provided below), director John M. Chu
mentioned that “We didn’t
re-shoot anything. We didn’t go in and [add] Channing. I’m not
going to say what happens to Channing in the movie. You have to watch
the movie.” Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura also added that “We
never shot another frame.” But I don't know... something tells me
that they did do re-shoots for two reasons. First of all, Dwayne
Johnson did mention in a May interview (right around the time the
delay was announced) that re-shoots did happen in order to design
“new scenes to enhance 3-D”. Plus, take a look at two posters for
the film, one that was released when it was coming out in June and
the other one for its current March date. Notice a certain person who
is on one poster and not the other? Really, if they didn't do
re-shoots, than I feel Paramount just wasted nine months just to
convert the film to 3-D.
 |
| Pre-delay poster without Tatum |
| Current poster with Tatum |
While
it's questionable whether or not GI Joe 2 went through re-shoots,
there is one film coming out this year that has gone through
re-shoots, showing signs of a rather troubled production. The film in
question is 'World War Z', directed by Quantum of Solace's Marc
Forster, starring Brad Pitt, and based on the popular book of the
same name by Max Brooks. Originally the film was set to come out in
December 2012, but then re-shoots were announced. However, probably
the biggest news from this delay was that it was also reported that
Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus) was hired to do rewrites for the
final act of the film. However, due to scheduling issues, Drew
Goddard was hired instead. This is easily one of the riskiest films
this year because if these writers were brought on just to re-write
the ending, then this movie might be in trouble even before it comes
out.
Disney's
'The Lone Ranger' is another film that had a few problems during its
production. The film was originally supposed to be released during
the summer of 2011 but was shelved and replaced by Pirates of the
Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Ironically, the director of the first
three 'Pirates' films, Gore Verbinski, was hired to direct and the
film was then set to hit theaters in December 2012. However, the film
went through a production delay when concerns began to arise over the
budget because in the wake of 'John Carter', Disney was trying to
scale down the budget of 'The Lone Ranger' in case of another flop.
But then, once production began, the film went over budget. The
current budget is reportedly 250 million, and The Lone Ranger will
finally hit theaters during this year's Fourth of July weekend.
Re-shoots
aren't the only reason why a film is pushed back. It could be because
the studio decided to release it at a later date in order to have
less competition. After all, in today's age of movies, films don't
have much time to get their money back at the box office. One of
these films was director Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of F. Scott
Fitzgerald's classic novel 'The Great Gatsby'. It was originally
supposed to be released on Christmas Day in 2012 but was then pushed
back to May 10th,
2013 because another film starring star Leonardo DiCaprio (Django
Unchained) was set to hit theaters the same day. The remake of
Stephen King's novel 'Carrie' starring Chloe Moretz was moved from
its original March date to October in order to capitalize on the
Halloween box office. This was also around the time of another horror
film, the remake of director Sam Raimi's 'The Evil Dead'.
Some
films could be pushed back just so that the filmmakers could have
more time to complete the film. Three films this year went through
such a situation. 'Star Trek Into Darkness' was pushed back from a
2012 release date because director J.J. Abrams had not yet committed
to the project and a script had not been completed yet. 'Jack the
Giant Slayer', originally named 'Jack the Giant Killer' (the name of
the original source material the film is based off of) was moved from
a June 15th
release date in order to have more time for post-production and
marketing (tough competition could also be a reason for the film's
delay). Finally, there was 'Man of Steel', which was originally
supposed to be released the same year as its fellow DC film 'The Dark
Knight Rises' but it was then moved to Summer 2013. This delay
occurred before filming even began.
Those
are just a few of many films that will come out this year after they
were pushed back from their original release dates. In the end, I
can't really say much else about a film if it is delayed aside from
the fact that it could either help or hurt a movie. For me, whenever
a film gets delayed, I always want to hear the reason why the studio
made this decision because that is a sign as to how the movie may
turn out. Films like 'The Lone Ranger' and 'World War Z' may be in
trouble due to the production troubles that both films came across.
As for 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation', I'm just interested to see if the
rumors were true and the film went through re-shoots to feature more
of Channing Tatum. But it's going to be a while before some of these
movies come out, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Collider
Interview with Jon M Chu:
http://collider.com/jon-m-chu-gi-joe-retaliation-interview/
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