criterionforum.org

I wonder if that means we're looking at an end-of-year holiday release date for The French Dispatch since he (and likely the bulk of his recycled troupe) will ostensibly need to be available for promotional gatherings

Tom Hanks to appear in Anderson's next (in what is described as a small and possibly "cameo-like" role).

Plot details for the film are tucked away in the pocket of a tasteful tweed blazer.

I like this

Actually mfunk makes my faces, I just wear them

Will ScarJo's involvement be contentious due to the lawsuit with Disney, assuming Wes Anderson follows his usual path and partners with Searchlight?

Now distributed by Focus Features

Asteroid City is billed as a poetic meditation on the meaning of life as it tells the story of a fictional American desert town in and around 1955 and its Junior Stargazer convention, which brings together students and parents from across the country for scholarly competition, rest and recreation, comedy, drama, romance, and more.

Hong Chau is also in this, which I don't think was reported until today

thank god Wes returned to Focus, which was my hope after the pathetic release French Dispatch got. Moonrise Kingdom got a really nice, wide release (customary for Focus anyway) and with the basic death of Searchlight I was hoping he'd come back to them. great news, truly

Did FRENCH DISPATCH get all that pathetic of a release? I saw it at the local multiplex here in Montana, and then it got some promotion on streaming outlets, was playing on HBO or whatever premium channel pretty frequently for a time, Target stocked the Blu-ray, etc.

It honestly didn’t seem neglected to me.

To back up Brian’s memory, according to this site, French Dispatch played 1220+ theaters to Moonrise Kingdom’s 920+. It didn’t play as long because Kingdom grossed three times as much — without the detriment of the winter COVID wave driving away older audiences, of course.

my issue was more that it had such a short run - it played one, max two weeks compared to the previous releases where I was able to go back and see the films multiple times. I saw Moonrise Kingdom around 4-5 times (I was of course very young and had a lot of friends that wanted to see it) and saw Budapest multiple times as well (did not for Dogs since I did not care for it too much) - the only reason I got to see Dispatch twice was due to arthouse theatre scheduling here in Raleigh. one theatre got it a week later than everyone else which afforded me such an opportunity, otherwise I'm sure I would've only gotten the one chance.

the other part of it was the Oscar blowback - for the film to get zero nominations, particularly technical awards, was something I found pretty incomprehensible. sure, critical opinion was divided but Wes is as popular as ever, and his films are undeniable on the technical front. when you consider what else was nominated, I don't think Fox/Disney put in nearly as much effort as they should've (and as they did for Budapest)

but it did get a lot better when it came to home video - it got pretty good coverage for HBO Max and is still, as of yesterday available still in store at Target and Best Buy nationwide. by comparison's sake, Licorice Pizza (a MGM/Focus co-release) is not being sold in store at Target, and that did get Oscar nominations.

ryannichols7 wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:48 pm the other part of it was the Oscar blowback - for the film to get zero nominations, particularly technical awards, was something I found pretty incomprehensible. sure, critical opinion was divided but Wes is as popular as ever, and his films are undeniable on the technical front. when you consider what else was nominated, I don't think Fox/Disney put in nearly as much effort as they should've (and as they did for Budapest)

but it did get a lot better when it came to home video - it got pretty good coverage for HBO Max and is still, as of yesterday available still in store at Target and Best Buy nationwide. by comparison's sake, Licorice Pizza (a MGM/Focus co-release) is not being sold in store at Target, and that did get Oscar nominations.

I have a connection to some people that worked on this and they don't think it was Searchlight's fault at all. The biggest issues were that Wes and the crafts team weren't as available for interviews (they were filming this!) and some press/critics just weren't as into the movie compared to Wes' other work - they found it to be a little slight (my personal opinion as well for what it's worth) and felt he had more worthy work ahead of him.

You can look at Nightmare Alley's overperformance (few expected it to get a Best Picture nom) as a counterexample re: Searchlight's effort. The general consensus was that it was a marvel Nightmare Alley got made at all, so I think that led people to pull the lever for that one instead. I mean it was the year of Dune, West Side Story, and Power of the Dog. There weren't a lot of slots left in the crafts categories. One of the more competitive craft years in a while.

To be fair, they also said that Searchlight seemed to have less budget than usual, but they didn't believe money would have really changed anything when it came to noms.

ryannichols7 wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:48 pm the other part of it was the Oscar blowback - for the film to get zero nominations, particularly technical awards, was something I found pretty incomprehensible. sure, critical opinion was divided but Wes is as popular as ever, and his films are undeniable on the technical front. when you consider what else was nominated, I don't think Fox/Disney put in nearly as much effort as they should've (and as they did for Budapest)

I didn't realize how devastating that could be until I sat through a Q&A for Spike Lee's 25th Hour. That was pegged as an awards season draw, but when it got nothing (and eventually no Oscar nominations), the studio basically left it for dead and refused to spend any more money on promotion, marketing, etc. and it probably left theaters very quickly as a result.

Dispatch's relatively muted reception definitely played a role in its shutout (though I think it's maybe one of his two best), but also I don't think the Academy cares about Wes Anderson enough for him to be a repeat awards player. Grand Budapest obviously did very well for itself but it's the only Anderson movie to get any craft nominations besides Score (and even the Score noms only started when he hired Alexandre Desplat). He should be an easy craft nominee every time he makes something, but he never is except when he has a perfect storm of massive critical and commercial success behind him. Maybe this will be what repeats the Budapest magic, but I'd be more surprised by that than I would be by another non-performance like Dispatch.

It's almost a disappointment that Tom Hanks will only get a cameo - it just occurred to me that in the past, one-offs by established leading men like Gene Hackman, Bruce Willis, George Clooney and Ralph Fiennes resulted in wonderful performances, perhaps my favorite comedic performances from each one.

hearthesilence wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 2:20 am It's almost a disappointment that Tom Hanks will only get a cameo - it just occurred to me that in the past, one-offs by established leading men like Gene Hackman, Bruce Willis, George Clooney and Ralph Fiennes resulted in wonderful performances, perhaps my favorite comedic performances from each one.

I very much agree with the specifics here re: past roles, but on the other hand, Hanks took down a Coen Brothers movie once. I don't hate Tom Hanks or anything, but I'm a little suspicious of him from time to time, especially when he moves away from his more Everyman-types of roles. I can't say that I'm disappointed that he only has a cameo here.

At any rate, I think Dispatch mostly came by its box-office struggles honestly. Sure, it deserved more nominations, but it was a vastly more difficult and less-audience pleasing film than Budapest was. I think the evidence mostly suggests that Searchlight tried in good faith, but the film just didn't take. It happens - in fact it happened to Anderson before with The Life Aquatic, which also led to him changing studios, come to think of it.

People hate anthology films

Brian C wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:49 pm

hearthesilence wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 2:20 am It's almost a disappointment that Tom Hanks will only get a cameo - it just occurred to me that in the past, one-offs by established leading men like Gene Hackman, Bruce Willis, George Clooney and Ralph Fiennes resulted in wonderful performances, perhaps my favorite comedic performances from each one.

I very much agree with the specifics here re: past roles, but on the other hand, Hanks took down a Coen Brothers movie once. I don't hate Tom Hanks or anything, but I'm a little suspicious of him from time to time, especially when he moves away from his more Everyman-types of roles. I can't say that I'm disappointed that he only has a cameo here.

I kind of prefer the pre-Oscar, pre-saintly Everyman Tom Hanks that relied more on his comedic chops, which are considerable. Yeah the films he made during that period aren't as good, but he carried them with great comedic timing and physicality. We haven't seen much of that Tom Hanks since he started doing almost exclusively prestige films--though Catch Me If You Can and Charlie Wilson's War have moments that remind me of it. Did he really take down The Ladykillers or was it just a poorly-conceived remake to begin with?

He could play nicely within Anderson's dry whimsy. Though it doesn't sound like he will have much of a part in this one.

Absolutely. I can't remember the last time I've really enjoyed Hanks in a comic role, but I was watching some old SNL re-runs that pre-dated his Oscar wins, and I actually thought he was brilliant given the breadth of roles he had to play (in terms of how each one was supposed to make one laugh - whether it was attitude, the delivery of a line, or purely physical like a wholly invented facial expression).

I actually think his performances in Forrest Gump and Philadelphia were excellent on their own terms, they're unfortunately compromised (or perhaps undermined rather than compromised) by the films surrounding them. But I do miss the guy that came before them.