Day Zero US DVD date?

[sssneaking.livejournal.com]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6480763.html

drama Day Zero, with Elijah Wood (Feb. 26; Jan. 22).

I think the actual date is Feb 26 (Jan 22 is some kind of pre-book and I have no idea what they mean by that - some kind of internal industry thing?).

Comments

[sorceress1986.livejournal.com]

Well....

I read on IMDB (unreliable though it can be)that the theatrical release was Jan 18th. Where is all this going?

[sssneaking.livejournal.com]

I thought Jan 18 was the theatrical release of Oxford Murders. Day Zero was in November. Or am I getting confused.

[sorceress1986.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're right. Serves me right for posting while high on DayQuil and NightQuil.

[wakerobin.livejournal.com]

This is not good. Successful films (or films the distributor thinks will be successful) do not come available in DVD 3 months after the "release" date. No long run means no awards consideration - and once again a brilliant Elijah Wood performance drops through the cracks. I'm sure he doesn't care that much about awards for his work, but it breaks my heart...

[sssneaking.livejournal.com]

If you look at the dates, it's actually nearly 4 months (16 and a bit weeks) which is a little better. That's maybe a couple of months shorter than something like Paris Je T'aime but that had a fairly long, wandering release pattern.

I understand your disappointment but I think you are being a bit unrealistic with what we know has happened with Day Zero so far and the very small size of the film.

The main/only possible chance it ever had of getting any mainstream awards attention was if it was a big breakout buzz hit at Tribeca. It got some good/excellent reviews but it was not the talk of the festival (as far as I can see from indie film sites), it didn't win anything and the big trades review was so-so at best. So, that ship has probably already sailed. This film is so small and the amount of money required to push an awards film is so vast (even for just a performance nomination), it just doesn't happen for little, little films unless a distributor steps in to pony up big cash.

It's gone to First Look Pictures. They, historically, are a pretty small scale distributor and mostly DVD. I'm sure the First Look will regard the theatre release as just a promo for the DVD and that's one reason it's so soon after.

We know it's going to have a very limited release Nov 2nd in New York only first. With an implication that it may/will go elsewhere if successful (or maybe LA, San Francisco, Chicago are expected). That they've gone for this date is a good sign of confidence in the film since it's within the usual "awards film" timetable and it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. Another of the downsides is that it's possibly be harder to get theatre space to show it. Actually, Feb 26 is the first DVD release after the Oscars/Independent Spirit awards which is interesting.

It's fairly obvious that it's going to get a low key release with not too much money spent on PR (probably concentrating on cast interviews rather than ads for example). It's going to live and die by the reviews in the New York press (or hopefully Ebert) on opening weekend - it may not even get the chance to have word of mouth being a factor because keeping theatres is so tough. If for some reason the reviews are stellar, the word of mouth excellent and everybody adores it to pieces, it may keep running and there could be awards buzz but I do not believe that's going to happen and anybody expecting that is asking to be disappointed. From an Elijah perspective, it's still one good (and hopefully different) performance to add to a portfolio which helps him build up a career and leads to getting cast in other films.

[wakerobin.livejournal.com]

You make some excellent points. I was never thinking Oscars/Golden Globes, but I did feel that it could have taken off like Sideways or Little Miss Sunshine at Independent Spirit Awards. But then I thought that for Everything Is Illuminated too. Just a bit too optimistic, I guess. As for the Nov 2 NY opening, the producer has advised that this is not a correct date and made noises like it would be later. December would be fine. Also, this news coming on the heels of news that Oxford Murders is opening way too late for any kind of awards recognition just hit hard. Ah well. As long as he's healthy, happy and working, right?

[sssneaking.livejournal.com]

Indeed. The awards malarky is so much money, politics and PR. They end up making some great choices, some really bad ones and completely overlooking some excellent films (as you say). I think that Elijah will tend to struggle to get awards nominations because he doesn't tend to do big shouty obvious acting (what's that quote about the Oscars, to get what the category is really about replace "Best" with "Most").

My suspicion would be that this Feb date is dependent on the Nov 2nd release. If the Nov 2nd release is changed, especially if it slips a lot, then the DVD date would have to end up slipping.

[bunniewabbit.livejournal.com]

We know it's going to have a very limited release Nov 2nd in New York only first.

I hear that date is a wee bit early, and got the impression from something I read (maybe even on the official website) that it was more likely to be a December release. I don't really know any of it for a fact, though.

[primula-baggins.livejournal.com]

Also before any movie can even be considered for an Oscar it has to have actually been released in a theater in the US, so that might be another reason why it's going to have a theatrical release, as small as that might be.