Since Avatar made the most money (ever) launching in December rather than the summer season a few years ago, studios have recently been keener to pack the month with some of their highlights of the year. With the year’s end fast approaching — and with it films like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Jack Reacher, This Is 40, Django Unchained, Les Miserables and much, much more — this means some last-minute schedule tinkering on the part of the studios.
We’ve got news on one such switch from The Hollywood Reporter as they update that Kathryn Bigelow‘s highly-anticipated Osama bin Laden hunt drama Zero Dark Thirty may be given a delayed wide release on the behalf of Sony Pictures. Instead of hitting nationwide theaters on December 19th, theater owners have reportedly been told to expect a staggered awards-friendly roll-out. This would mean a strictly New York and Los Angeles release on the original date with a few more markets getting the film on January 4th and then finally, a wide release on January 11th, perfectly timed for a day before the Oscar nominations get announced.
It certainly makes sense considering how packed the December slate is and could serve to let some of the more opening weekend-heavy films like The Hobbit get out of the way first. We saw Warner Bros. do a similar roll-out with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close last year, but usually quality isn’t the biggest factor in these adjustments. Regardless this film is aiming to reap more benefits financially than her last film, The Hurt Locker, with Sony just hoping they can repeat the same awards fervor. As we wait for more concrete details, check out the official trailer.
Are you disappointed you may have to wait a bit longer to see Bigelow’s latest?