The new homeowner is back filming the final scenes of Valkyrie, the flick where he wears an eye patch and tries to assassinate Adolph Hitler, despite everyone calling for the flick’s demise. Variety editor and granola blogger Peter Bart insists he’s being told it’s a “superb thriller,” but the film has already had its release date pushed back twice. It’s now set to open on Feb. 13, which happens to be Friday the 13th and Valentines Day and and Presidents??? Day weekend. That’s balls/stupidity.
VALKYRIE STATUS UPDATE Though Tom Cruise’s problem-prone Hitler film has already been pushed back to 2009, one critic has concluded, “Valkyrie is dead.” [Times Online]
Know what? 2009 is looking like a much better year to release that movie about the attempted assassination of Adolph Hilter. After all, there are only about seven months left in 2008, and who wants to rush such a masterpiece to theatres if the climate isn’t right?
So goes the story of United Artists’ Tom Cruise and partner Paula Wagner, who are yanking the Bryan Singer-directed Valkyrie from a 2008 release, putting a hefty amount of distance between the World World II flick and the studio’s previous release, the bomb Lions for Lambs.
If you ask MGM distribution chief Clark Woods, the decision was an obvious one: “When an opening became available for Presidents Day weekend, we seized the opportunity.” Who knew Presidents Day weekend made for such a blockbuster premiere date?
Or maybe it’s the fact that Tom Cruise knows Valkyrie is going to underperform, and he hasn’t taken care of that little matter of securing his career’s future just yet.