Post by Gambit on Sept 27, 2008 15:43:26 GMT -5
www.smh.com.au/news/film/bond-blinks-first-in-battle-of-the-blockbusters/2008/09/05/1220121520755.html
Bond Blinks First In Battle Of Blockbusters
Stockman vs spy … Hugh Jackman in Australia (left), and Daniel Craig in Quantum Of Solace (right).
Garry Maddox Film Writer
It was Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman vs James Bond. A clash between two blockbuster movies, Australia and the strangely titled Quantum Of Solace, threatened to squeeze opening weekend audiences.
But after the biggest dispute about rival releases for years, the distributors of the new Bond film have blinked. Sony executives have brought forward the release of Quantum Of Solace by a week to avoid direct competition with Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic. They had been fuming at 20th Century Fox's decision to move Australia to the same weekend.
While that might be a minor issue for filmgoers, the date changes reflect the importance of opening weekend business for two of the biggest movies heading for cinemas this year.
Quantum Of Solace now opens on November 19, with Australia out on November 26.
Cinema executives were relieved yesterday, given that ticket sales of more than $70 million are at stake.
"I don't think it makes an awful lot of sense to have two movies of that size opening against one another," said the managing director of the Greater Union cinema chain, Ross Entwistle. "It makes for a healthier market if there's a gap between movies of that scale."
The clash overshadowed the announcement this week of a promising line-up of Australian films, with a shift away from the small-scale, personal stories that have dominated local film-making in recent years.
Raw footage from Balibo, a thriller about the killing of five newsmen in East Timor in 1975, was well received at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast - the cinema industry's annual showcase. It stars Anthony LaPaglia and recreates the Indonesian invasion.
There was similar enthusiasm for Disgrace, an adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Booker Prize-winning novel about a professor whose life falls apart after an affair. It stars John Malkovich and premieres this weekend at the Toronto film festival.
Also screening were early scenes from Mao's Last Dancer, Bruce Beresford's adaptation of
Li Cunxin's bestselling book about his rise from Chinese peasant to international ballet star, and
Mary And Max, the first feature from the Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot, featuring the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana and Toni Collette.
And Jane Campion is finishing Bright Star, which centres on the relationship between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne and stars Abbie Cornish and Ben Wishaw.
A Screen Australia executive, Tait Brady, said: "The response we had was that at last there was a genuine diversity of films - from international co-productions to edgy Australian genre films."
Bond Blinks First In Battle Of Blockbusters
Stockman vs spy … Hugh Jackman in Australia (left), and Daniel Craig in Quantum Of Solace (right).
Garry Maddox Film Writer
It was Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman vs James Bond. A clash between two blockbuster movies, Australia and the strangely titled Quantum Of Solace, threatened to squeeze opening weekend audiences.
But after the biggest dispute about rival releases for years, the distributors of the new Bond film have blinked. Sony executives have brought forward the release of Quantum Of Solace by a week to avoid direct competition with Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic. They had been fuming at 20th Century Fox's decision to move Australia to the same weekend.
While that might be a minor issue for filmgoers, the date changes reflect the importance of opening weekend business for two of the biggest movies heading for cinemas this year.
Quantum Of Solace now opens on November 19, with Australia out on November 26.
Cinema executives were relieved yesterday, given that ticket sales of more than $70 million are at stake.
"I don't think it makes an awful lot of sense to have two movies of that size opening against one another," said the managing director of the Greater Union cinema chain, Ross Entwistle. "It makes for a healthier market if there's a gap between movies of that scale."
The clash overshadowed the announcement this week of a promising line-up of Australian films, with a shift away from the small-scale, personal stories that have dominated local film-making in recent years.
Raw footage from Balibo, a thriller about the killing of five newsmen in East Timor in 1975, was well received at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast - the cinema industry's annual showcase. It stars Anthony LaPaglia and recreates the Indonesian invasion.
There was similar enthusiasm for Disgrace, an adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Booker Prize-winning novel about a professor whose life falls apart after an affair. It stars John Malkovich and premieres this weekend at the Toronto film festival.
Also screening were early scenes from Mao's Last Dancer, Bruce Beresford's adaptation of
Li Cunxin's bestselling book about his rise from Chinese peasant to international ballet star, and
Mary And Max, the first feature from the Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot, featuring the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana and Toni Collette.
And Jane Campion is finishing Bright Star, which centres on the relationship between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne and stars Abbie Cornish and Ben Wishaw.
A Screen Australia executive, Tait Brady, said: "The response we had was that at last there was a genuine diversity of films - from international co-productions to edgy Australian genre films."
