Considering the glut of movies being released over the holidays next week, we’re surprised more of them aren’t looking to give themselves a little distance before the next highly-anticipated picture comes crushing through their gate.
When “Cowboys & Aliens” director Jon Favreau referred to the summer movie season of 2011 as a “blood bath,” it seems that was only half the tale, as December will also be a battle for box office dollars. With blockbusters like “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” “Sherlock Holmes: Book of Shadows,” and “The Adventures of Tintin” being released within a week of each other, it’s certainly going to get ugly for some of these films. That also doesn’t include smaller prestige pictures like “Young Adult” that are making the jump to more screens this weekend, or awards season hopefuls like "War Horse," so we can see why Sony has moved (slightly) another big movie looking to lure audiences.
Variety reports that the studio will be giving the much talked about “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” a little bit of an edge by releasing it a day early. Originally set to bow on Wednesday, December 21, audiences eager to see David Fincher’s adaptation of author Stieg Larsson’s bestselling book can make their way out to theaters on the evening of December 20th, starting at 7 PM, to quench their thirst for the feel bad movie of Christmas. This isn’t the first time a studio has done this though, as the recent “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” also moved its release date ahead at the last minute to appease eager patrons, and “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” is opening a few days ahead of its theatrical release exclusively in IMAX.
The move widens the gap between other films like “We Bought A Zoo” and “War Horse,” which are scheduled to release in the days following the original 'Dragon Tattoo' release date of December 21st, and would ultimately be vying for the same sort of audience looking for a classy prestige picture to kick start their holiday weekend.
The review embargo for the film was lifted Monday night at midnight, and if reviews aren’t overwhelmingly positive, they have at least been saying the thriller is a cut above your average fare. As for the film itself, David Fincher’s notoriously specific ways have seemed to creep into the reels of this adaptation, as Rooney Mara told Metro that she had to get into character right down to the hairs on her, well, merkin.
“There was a lot of discussion that went into my merkin for the movie, because I was naked quite a lot,” Mara told Metro. “And I don’t think a lot of people will notice all of the attention that went into that. But there was a lot of discussions around that.” Lisbeth Salander, Mara’s character in the film, is originally supposed to be a strawberry-blonde before she becomes all angst ridden. Mara added that quest for realiasm went to some interesting places. “Well, you know, in the book she’s meant to have strawberry-blonde hair originally and she dyes it, so we had a special merkin made that was, you know, strawberry-blonde so that it would fit.”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” will open December 20th in wide release.