You may remember that a few weeks ago, the upcoming Johnny Depp-starrer “City of Lies” was mysteriously pulled from the release schedule just before its scheduled September 7th debut. At the time, it was reported that some of the negative backlash that actor Depp has been receiving over the last year (especially including some of his more…odd behaviors…over the last couple months) led to production company Global Road pulling the crime thriller.
However, a new report from The Wrap shows that there might have been a little more to that decision than originally thought. The report says that Global Road Entertainment’s film division was recently seized by its bank lenders, as the company heads towards bankruptcy. And due to that seizure, some of the more high-profile Global Road films, such as “City of Lies” and an upcoming horror film starring Kiernan Shipka, are being shopped around to potential buyers.
This development, of course, would explain why the company decided to pull the Depp film from release — apparently, they just didn’t have a solid-enough future to launch the film. The Wrap says that Global Road failed to secure $200 million in new investments that the company said they would back in February. Now, it appears that if they don’t earn enough capital from the potential sales of these films, the company could be ready to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Despite this money problem, with its potential future in serious jeopardy, Global Road did release a film over the weekend. “A.X.L.,” a film about a robot dog (or something, gotta admit I missed the trailer and all promotion for this), debuted in just over 1,700 theaters this weekend and pulled in a dismal $2.9 million. But then again, no one was expecting “A.X.L.” to be the blockbuster that saved Global Road from impending doom.
Now, we just have to wait to hear if Depp’s “City of Lies” finds a new home or gets lost in the mix forever. While the trailer didn’t instill a ton of confidence that Depp and co-star Forest Whitaker were on the cusp of releasing an awards-contender, it’s definitely a film that could have made a decent amount in theaters.