The French Dispatch (October 22)

[Simone]

The possible positive about French Dispatch is that it can now have a festival screening. With an October release date, it's now primed for TIFF.

[Simone]

The French Dispatch is on the Oscar radar:

“The French Dispatch”
Wes Anderson’s latest, inspired by his love for the New Yorker, focuses on the French bureau of an American newspaper as its journalists work on three stories: an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots and a kidnapping resolved by a chef. The sprawling ensemble includes Frances McDormand, Benicio del Toro, Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray.
Distributor: Searchlight
Status: Finished and scheduled for Oct. 16

Source: www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-04-30/oscars-2021-predictions-coronavirus

[Simone]

[jennaj11]

Cool! Love it! Aug 13? They've changed the date again? I thought it was Oct. 16th was it?

[Simone]

I think that's still an old poster hanging in that theater. A new one will have the new October date.

[jennaj11]

Ah ok. Got it. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see this!

[Simone]

Disney has removed The French Dispatch from this year's release calendar! The ongoing pandemic has ruined the film industry unlike any event in recent memory!


www.indiewire.com/2020/07/disney-release-calendar-changes-mulan-french-dispatch-star-wars-avatar-1234575953/

The release calendar is suddenly very different. No doubt kicked into action by the recent removal by Warner Bros. of Christopher Nolan’s much-hyped “Tenet” from the current schedule, Disney has now announced a slew of changes to its own calendar, including its own removal of dates for heavy-hitters like Niki Caro’s “Mulan” and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch.” Both films are now listed as “unset” on the studio’s calendar, moving off August and October dates, respectively.

[Teenca]

A bunch of bad news for the day.

[tracyrcat]

Anne Thompson seems to think The French Dispatch will debut at Berlin and then a global opening before the Oscar's Feb 28th deadline.

From the article:
A $200-million movie like “Tenet” needs functioning theater chains with thousands of screens in order to open around the world and make back its negative and marketing costs.

Not so a Wes Anderson movie, which isn’t intended for initial online consumption, nor is its appeal limited to North America. Like his smash 2014 hit “Grand Budapest Hotel” ($163 million worldwide), which scored nine Oscar nominations and four craft wins, “The French Dispatch” is a word-of-mouth movie, carefully groomed for upbeat festival reaction that builds into rave reviews and theater play that extends for months into award season. Searchlight marketing devises special exhibits of sets and costumes, fun promotions, and puts talent on the award circuit. That’s what they do.

Is Searchlight capable of moving to an online release? Sure. But it doesn’t have to. If budgets are reasonable (under $20 million), specialty distributors can afford to wait and send out their movies, in this case, with a European media launch (likely Berlin in February) and a global opening ahead of the new Oscar February 28 deadline. Then Searchlight can make their best effort. And not short-shrift their movie. “If we wait for theatrical,” said one indie marketing executive, “the value of the movies goes up.”

www.indiewire.com/2020/07/specialty-films-oscars-2021-1234577231/

[Simone]

And then there’s Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch.” The high-profile Searchlight title was noticeably absent from Disney’s latest announcement of releases postponed until 2021. That’s because Searchlight has not yet made a final decision on Anderson’s latest European period piece, which moved from its official Cannes 2020 selection to a July opening, and then to prime Oscar season in October, only to wind up undated in 2021.

In 2015, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing the Berlin Film Festival, a possible February launchpad for “The French Dispatch.” Even more likely: Thierry Fremaux coaxes the Europe-based Anderson to return to Cannes in May. (Anderson shot the film in Angoulême, France.) Given that the filmmaker wants to open around the world day and date, this makes sense.

[Simone]

[Simone]

It's official, The French Dispatch will premiere in FRANCE at Cannes, of course. A film with the word French in its title with such an all-star cast must premiere at Cannes. I think Timmy will attend!

[Simone]

Release date: 22 October!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPYJZueBNp_

[jennaj11]

Wonder if he'll be at the premiere at the NY Film Festival? He's going to be so busy this fall. 

[Simone]

I think Timmy will be filming Wonka at that time, especially since it'll start in September. It has such a huge number of high-profile stars, he might pass on it after doing the Cannes premiere. This is an ensemble, so he can fall back on the excuse of filming commitments, which will be valid. Also, he'll doing promotional work for Dune too, so he won't be able to appear everywhere for The French Dispatch.