Well, this is certainly disappointing. Jupiter Ascending, the next big sci-fi epic from Andy and Lana Wachowski, has had its release date pushed back to February 6th, 2015. This news comes as quite a surprise considering its initial release date of July 18th is only seven weeks away, but apparently the Wachowskis are not yet finished with the movie’s extensive special effects.
According to Warner Bros.’ domestic distribution chief Dan Fellman, the Wachowskis have more than 2,000 effects shots that still need to be worked on.
“With the July release date, they were just not going to make it on time,” said Fellman. “A lot of the issue for us was getting it ready for the international release, since the foreign territories need additional time.”
With this push-back happening so suddenly, it’s understandable that people are starting to wonder if Warner Bros. are unhappy with what they’ve seen from the film thus far and have begun to lose faith in the product.
In this case though, I’d like to give the Wachowskis, as well as WB, the benefit of the doubt. We have to remember that Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was initially set for a November 2012 release before Warner Brothers delayed it for 11 months while Cuaron tinkered with the special effects. The result? Over $700 million in the box office and seven Academy Awards. And while it may seem like an odd choice to release this film in February, which is typically a lackluster month at the movies, Warner Bros. fared pretty well with The Lego Movie when it came out this past February. So, there’s no need to start jumping to conclusions at this point.
Despite the goodwill the Wachowskis have built over at Warner Bros., the summer has become a very difficult place to release a movie that’s not based on a pre-existing franchise. Considering Jupiter Ascending‘s $150 million budget, you have to wonder if Warner Bros. would also like to spend more time figuring out how to market this baby more effectively, instead of simply throwing it out to the wolves.
Either way, let’s hope it all works out for the Wachowskis. You have to hand it to them for treating the success of The Matrix trilogy as an opportunity to make challenging films. If it were coming out in seven weeks, Jupiter Ascending would have been sandwiched between the fourth Transfomers movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, it’ll just be up against Fifty Shades of Grey and Spongebob Squarepants 2. It should have a better chance succeeding then… as long as the movie is actually good.
Anyways, if you can’t wait to see more of Channing Tatum in makeup wearing a funky goatee, then mark your calendars for February 6th, 2015. I’m willing to bet you don’t have any plans on that day.