Ouch. When The Weinstein Company first picked up “Grace Of Monaco” back in 2013, they had big, Oscar-filled dreams. The company was reported to have paid a whopping $5 million guarantee (for comparison sake, they spent $7 million landing “The Imitation Game” last year), committing to $10 million marketing, at least an 800 screen bow for the movie. But things went south.
In the fall of 2013, director Olivier Dahan spoke out candidly about his battles with producer Harvey Weinstein. Things got so heated, The Weinstein Company considered not even releasing the movie at all, but changed their mind. But the writing was on the wall after “Grace Of Monaco” premiered at Cannes last year and was destroyed by critics. Since then, things have been quiet about how the movie would be released, and short answer is, it’s pretty much being dumped.
READ: The 6 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Moments From Cannes Opener ‘Grace Of Monaco’
Variety reports that Lifetime of all places will debut the drama on May 25th. When was the last time a Nicole Kidman movie went straight-to-cable? We would’ve figured that maybe the Weinsteins would’ve put it through their VOD shingle, Radius, but it seems they just want to cut their losses and move on. But maybe Lifetime — home of the campy, overwrought drama — is the right home for this movie in the end.