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Paramount Bumps Scorsese's Shutter Island to February 2010!

by Alex Billington
August 21, 2009
Source: Nikki Finke

Whoa, I did not see this coming! Nikki Finke is reporting that Paramount has bumped Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island from its original October 2nd release all the way to February of 2010 next year! The reason? Money, of course. "I hear that Paramount told the filmmakers it doesn't have the financing in 2009 to spend the $50M to $60M necessary to market a big awards pic like this." And yet somehow they think that they'll get Oscar consideration in February? "That's when Silence Of The Lambs came out back in 1991 and it won the Oscar." I just can't believe they think it'll do well in February, but I guess we'll find out.

Unlike Warner Brothers' decision to shift Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November to July this year, this is pretty much an assurance that it's being dumped during in one of the worst slots of the year. Sure, Taken did well earlier this year (off of a January release), but a Martin Scorsese drama/thriller? No way! Plus, does anyone really think it can get an Oscar nom in February? "Now that the Academy has Best Picture to 10 films," an insider tells Finke, "it will be easier for a movie that came out in the beginning of the year to get nominated for Best Picture." That's wishful thinking and I bet it really won't make a difference.

Either this is an early warning sign that Shutter Island is really not that great and is being dumped to cover that up quickly and quietly (a lot like Paramount's decision to move The Soloist to April, since that movie was awful). Or just a sign that Paramount is out of their minds and somehow thinks that they can get more out of it running it in February. Either way, this is a very shocking decision. The official trailer has been playing since June. We currently have some calls out to sources to get official confirmation, so stay tuned!

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http://twitter.com/iantmcfarland Ian McFarland

'The Departed' opened the same weekend in 2006 and did a generally fantastic $130 million stateside. It would seem like a shitty idea to deviate from that plan unless it really isn't an Oscar caliber movie. (Although, I'd note that neither was 'The Departed' in my opinion, even though I really liked it.) Paramount opened fucking 'Transformers' this summer, how do they not have enough money?
Branden

last Best Picture winners... Departed - Oct 2006 Benjamin Button - Christmas 2008 No Country for Old Men - November 2007 Crash - May 2005 Million Dollar Baby was the only one in recent history to come out before May (Janurary) and win Best Picture. I think it is a bad sign which sucks because the trailer looks really good.
David Ari

to #2 It actually came out in december 15 in limited release and wider in January
Gary

It's definitely a warning sign. Paramount may or may not have high test scores but all that means is potential commercial appeal. I suspect what they haven't got is an Oscar calibre pic & they don't want to be locked into throwing $50 million away promoting a pic that's going to go nowhere just to satisfy the talent. When economic times were easier this sort of thing went on all the time - studios thought nothing of burning hundreds of millions on go-nowhere Oscar campaigns - but it's a much less forgiving climate now. So it's bye-bye Shutter Island, pitched into the winter graveyard that is February.
joe

I can't believe this is happening i was waiting for this movie to come out on this fall.The buzz for this shouldn't go down .Same things keep happening in hollywood again and again like wolfman which got pushed too.Nice movies are starting to feel like bore nowdays except avatar i hope this fall brings us some great movies because summer season is gone and the only big release are in december now like Avatar and A Christmas Carol .
Johnbo

#5 You forgot about The Lovely Bones
Roarkk

Yep...looks like Paramount is going to give The Lovely Bones the full on Oscar treatment.
Branden

#3 Well that was smart of them to do that I guess lol. #6 and Sherlock Holmes
SR

#2 The Best Picture last year didn't go to Benjamin Button...it went to Slumdog. Nonetheless, it still came out in November in limited release. All this could possibly mean is that the movie won't have the appeal to win an Oscar. It's hard to believe since it's Scorsese. I still hope this movie is great.
Elizabeth

While I am very disappointed with this news as it was one of the few films I was looking forward to in the fall, I have to ask if it was really all that Oscar worthY? I read the book which was a fun goth-horror read and from the looks of the trailer, Scorsese made a goth-horror film. Does the Academy really ever reward those types of movies?
negropolitan

@ Branden...............Benjamin Button didn't win last year.... It was Slumdog Millionaire. I am also very disappointed..... it can't be about money... maybe the movie sucks???
Scorsesefan

WOW....that's awful....I've been looking so forward to this film...what a waste......
OJ

This is total BS... What is Paramount thinking?! Scorsese doesn't make bad films... This was one of my most anticipated of the year. Definitely bad news.
Reece

WTF!!!!!!!!!!! seriously...WTF!!!!
K

WTF!!!??? Ah man! I was really looking forward to seeing this in October.
Vold

This looks like an amazing money. I don't care about awards I'm just glad to be seeing this sooner.
Branden

lol whoops, I guess yall know what movie I was rooting for this year.
dan

FUCK paramount. seriously................FUCK paramount.
Greg

" I did not see this coming!" You never see anything coming.
http://www.midnightsun.org.uk Stuart Mellor

Caught the trailer for this on the front of Inglourious Basterds. Wish Scorcese would work with some new acting talent already. Film looks alright I guess, but it's not like any other film is going to matter at the end of the year with Sherlock Holmes and Avatar out!
Sleepykid

I read the Dennis Lahane novel some time ago. It's a good, entertaining pulpy thriller, but the big twist becomes pretty obvious as it progresses, and as a basis for a film, it comes across as something Shymalan or (more likely) De Palma could do in their sleep. It's slightly depressing to see Scorcese taking this route, frankly.
EJP

Nikki Finke's site now has an official statement from Paramount, which seems to use a lot of words to say not a whole lot.
Movieraider321

God dammit
Pap

Now that I know what the twist is to the book and movie, I understand why the studio did this. There are going to be a lot of pissed off movie goers after sitting through the whole film, then getting to the twist.
Movieraider321

By the way Alex, The Soloist was not awful, it was actually incredibly well done. With miniscule problems. So, by you saying that because The Soloist(which was a very good movie) being dumped into April, and this being moved, it's like your calling them the same thing. It's frankly insulting to even assume something like that. You have to think that the closer to Oscar season the film comes out the more likely it will be considered. If it had been released in October, all the winter films would have crushed it.
Hattori Hanzo

I was really looking forward to this and The Road in the fall: Damn you Paramount!
Gary

"Now that I know what the twist is to the book and movie, I understand why the studio did this. There are going to be a lot of pissed off movie goers after sitting through the whole film, then getting to the twist." Yeah, I think there's a big problem with the story. This kind of twist-in-the-tail form works fine at short length - a half-hour Twilight Zone type thing say - but in a 2 hr movie that purports to be a thriller it's just going to annoy an awful lot of viewers who I suspect will come out feeling very cheated.