Ok, they may have pushed back their first official movie of the year back until August (“Pirahnna 3D” — “Youth In Revolt” came out in January, but was a 2009 film that was pushed so it doesn’t count) and those signs point to the belly going up, but the Weinstein Company, who actually did just get more financing assistance recently, are still going at it and not going down without a fight.
Are they done? Well, if so, no one told director Derek Cianfrance (or the producers of the film who also lead, “Half Nelson”) because TWC just picked up his romantic drama, “Blue Valentine,” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams which was a pretty big hit at Sundance this year (and some of the Twitter reactions from notable critics were pretty damn breathless, Movieline’s Stu VanAirsdale being one of the few critics we like thinking the exact opposite).
Wouldn’t it be ironic if “Blue Valentine” came out before “All The Good Things,” another TWC/Ryan Gosling film with Kirsten Dunst that has been sitting on the shelf for over a year. The film, a staggering 12 years in the making, apparently was sold for a low-seven-figure deal.
No release date on this one yet, but considering the buzz, we would imagine sometime later this year in the fall. Though, you’ll recall it was reported for a Spring 2010 release date late last year, so maybe that will still be the case? Can TWC move that fast these days?
As Sundance winds down, other buys have been announced. The personal familial documentary, “Family Affair” has been acquired by OWN, the recently announced Oprah Winfrey Network distribution company and “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) directing by Peruvian helmer Javier Fuentes-Leon has been bought by Wolfe Releasing.
Also, apparently TWC are close to acquiring the documentary, “The Tillman Story.” Just when you think they’re dead in the water, they still seem to have lots of fight in them. We hope these films have better lives than things like, “The Janky Promoters” with Ice Cube that was ditched straight-to-DVD last year and “Shanghai” with John Cusak which has been sitting around now for what feels like two years now.
