Update 3/17: A24 has bumped up the release of “The Rover” by a month. The movie will now hit in June instead of July.
Robert Pattinson’s clout-building continues in 2014 though it technically has barely begun. Pattinson’s post-“Twilight” career rehab started with David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis” and the film world took notice. Auteurs, perhaps needing a viable star to greenlight their projects, took notice too. Werner Herzog came knocking (“Queen Of The Desert”), James Gray (“The Lost City of Z”), Cronenberg again (“Maps to the Stars”), Anton Corbijn (“Life“) and many others. One of the earliest adopters was Aussie filmmaker David Michôd who quickly cast him in “The Rover” opposite Guy Pearce.
Once set for a loose Fall TBD date (which gave Oscar pundits some pause), distributors A24 have announced this afternoon that “The Rover” has been dated for a limited release bow of June 13 July 18 in New York and Los Angeles. The movie will go wide on June 20 July 25. “The Rover” is a type of crime drama that centers on an odd loner (Guy Pearce) tracking down the gang who stole his car from a desolate town in the Australian outback. He’s aided by the forced assistance of a wounded guy left behind in the wake of the theft (Pattinson). The movie—which landed high on our Most Anticipated Films Of 2014 list—will face off, at least in limited release, against Zach Braff’s recently dated “Wish I Was Here.”
A24 has also dated “Laggies,” Lynn Shelton’s latest comedy starring Keira Knightley, Chloe Moretz and Sam Rockwell. A type of arrested development/man-child comedy for women, Knightley stars as a drifting 20-something who doesn’t know what she wants to do in life who makes a strange and unlikely friend in a 17-year-old girl played by Moretz (you can read our review from Sundance here). “Laggies” is set for September 26 and A24 is confident enough to release it wide against Focus‘ “The Boxtrolls” and Sony‘s “The Equalizer.“
In other release date news, The Weinstein has dated “The Railway Man” starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman (read our review) for an April 11th release, which is turning out to be the most crowded indie release weekend of the year. Also premiering on that date is Roadside Attraction’s David Gordon Green drama “Joe,” Jim Jarmusch’s vampire movie “Only Lovers Left Alive” for Sony Classics, Kristen Wiig’s IFC comedy “Hateship Loveship” and the TWC’s own “St. Vincent” starring Naomi Watts, Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd (though that one will go wide). The Jarmusch and Green pictures are both on our 21 Best Films Of 2014 We’ve Already Seen list so that’s obviously a pretty decent endorsement. And today’s last bit of late-day release date news, Universal’s “The Purge: Anarchy” sequel will move from June 20, 2014, to Friday, July 18, 2014.