Finally. Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” has found itself a U.S. distribution deal.
Earlier today via a Johnny Depp message board, we discovered that imaginariummovie.com redirected you to the Sony Pictures website. Hmm, we needed to dig into that, but had to be off to a screening.
Lo and behold that super sleuthing is on the money. Gilliam’s film, which features Heath Ledger’s last onscreen performance, will be released Stateside by Sony Pictures Classics, though no date has been officially given; but December 25 seems to be the date on everyone’s minds. Variety says “likely this year.” SPC was circling the film earlier this spring (kudos to Anne Thompson for pointing that out first), but couldn’t see eye to eye on price. Perhaps after its mixed reaction at Cannes, those numbers were rethought. Variety makes note of this by saying, “The ‘Parnassus’ deal with Sony has long been in the works and could be made official this week,” suggesting that there were a lot of back and forth negotiations.
Some are already bitching about the fact that SPC is releasing the picture (Slashfilm) but there’s no accounting for taste there, as SPC consistently delivers quality films year round. That tired and regurgitated sentiment that SPC doesn’t handle films well is some old hat and puzzling thinking. The film could have done a lot worse and of the high-end mini-major indies, SPC is definitely at the top. Regardless, the film finally has a U.S. deal and we’ll likely see it before the end of the year so Christmas seems to be the present that hardcore Gilliam fans have finally been waiting for.
