Well, if you thought the half-finished, test-screening speculation on Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity" last week was bad enough, just watch what some corners of the Internet will be saying about this latest update on the film.
Warner Bros. has bumped the ambitious sci-fi thriller from its originally planned release date of November 21st to a currently undetermined date in 2013. RUH-ROH! THE FILM IS IN TROUBLE! Actually, let's just take a moment to consider things. The movie would have landing on a holiday weekend that follows "Skyfall" opening two weeks earlier and "Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" the week before. If that's not enough, it would've faced competition from "Red Dawn," "The Silver Linings Playbook," "Parental Guidance" (that movie with Billy Crystal/Bette Midler) and "Rise of the Guardians" (in 3D no less) all opening wide at the same time. All that with Warner Bros.' sister company New Line dropping "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" two weeks later, taking on more 3D screens and basically making the window for "Gravity" two weeks long to pack 'em in before Peter Jackson strangleholds ticket sales and 3D glasses.
Our guess? It's a strategic move to not only give "Gravity" more room, and hell, give Alfonso Cuarón a bit more time get the extensive special effects in place, half of which aren't even done yet. As we said last week — despite those saying they saw a finished version just sans effects — this movie could change shape between now and whenever its released. So, no need to panic folks, "Gravity" will come but we're just going to have to wait a bit longer for it. So what will take its place? Well, there is a certain movie called "Cloud Atlas" that WB has North American distribution rights for that has long been rumored for a fall release. Just saying, don't be surprised if that falls into November somewhere….
Meanwhile, after floating without a release date, "Gangster Squad" will now arrive a month earlier than it was initially planned for, with a September 7th date penciled in. What does it mean? Well, TIFF kicks off on September 6th so you do the math…we'd put a pretty large wager on "Gangster Squad" (and its red carpet-worthy cast of Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, etc., etc.) opening the fest. We think this probably means its Oscar chances aren't so hot, and given the pulpy trailer we dont think it's a bad guess. And it will be alone that weekend as the only wide release, so from a box office perspective, it's a smart play. [BoxOfficeMojo]