The Peril of Not Living in a Major City

Roland Emmerich's first non-CGI disaster fest in over a decade, Anonymous, was to have opened today at Sundance.





Yet the Elizabethan potboiler is not playing according to their Showtimes pages. Why is that? Sony Pictures has changed the release schedule at the last minute.

Instead, in an unusual change so close to a planned launch, the studio will open the picture, about a British earl who some claim was the true author of William Shakespeare's plays, in only 250 theaters next weekend. Sony had originally planned to launch the movie in thousands of theaters.

Tracking surveys indicated that audiences were not that interested in seeing the film and it was likely headed for a very soft opening of less than $5 million. Sony is now hoping to generate buzz and positive reviews to boost audience excitement by opening the movie only in major cities Oct. 28. The studio then plans to expand its run to more locations throughout November.

Think about that. Only a few million - just not good enough. Uff da! While Anonymous' story and Emmerich's films generally don't interest me all that much, I read at IMDB that the movie is "The first major full-length motion picture to be shot with the Arri ALEXA high-definition digital-video camera." Now, that interests me. I'd go see it on this basis alone. Hopefully it'll end up here next month.