March 10, 2007

Rogue Issues


So, Greg McLean's last directorial effort was the terror-injected Wolf Creek. It was pretty great as those sort of movies go and Greg McLean could clearly be seen as a man of talent (remembering some of those scenes just gives me chills). So, naturally, when word came out about McLean's next picture, the mad-crocodile thriller Rogue, I was pretty excited. It has a freakin' kickarse cast - Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington, Heather Mitchell (ASHKA!!!!!!!!!), John Jarratt, Stephen Curry, Mia Wasikowska and some more. It's set in the Northern Territory (cue stunning cinematography) and, early word gave us all hope that it could be really great.

But, of course, the Harvey Weinstein train had to come along and derail all of that. The movie had about 20 different release dates in America, and had all of about none here in Australia. There has never been a poster (there's been fan made ones though!) and no trailer. There are scant few still images on the net (maybe five or six in total). It's almost as if the movie didn't exist.

Then today, I read the horrifying news that Rogue was going straight-to-dvd! (link curtosy of My New Plaid Pants.) I was shocked, to say the least. How does a movie that costs up to (but most likely more than) $20 million dollars and from the easiest genre to sell to American audiences (horror) go direct-to-dvd? Is it because the Weinstein's were disappointed with the American returns of Wolf Creek? Well, maybe they would have made more if they didn't release it ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Ugh. Or was it because the other mad croc film, Primevil, died at the box office even though there was no advertising to make customers believe there was even a crocodile in it!

So, there I was - shocked. I told my friend Simon (who lives outside of Sydney) and he informed me that Australia at least still had a release date for Rogue of August 30. Still some time away, but I can deal. I'm still scared it will go direct-to-dvd, which would be strange considering Wolf Creek is one of the most successful and famous Aussie films of the last decade. All they have to do is throw a "from the director of Wolf Creek" on the poster and it's sold to a fairly decent amount of people.

But THEN, I start to peruse the IMDb forums because occasionally the people on there actually dig up something worth nothing. And, ta-dah, they sorta did. Over at Moviehole they were reporting the direct-to-dvdness of Rogue yet had to edit it later and put a disclaimer at the top of the page that read as thus. (edit - Bloody Disgusting is reporting it too)

The Fangoria report, mentioned below, was a little off it seems. The films local distributor tells us that "Hot off the press : The Rogue U.S DVD release is wrong, Weinstein are still releasing in the US market as are we [in AU]. TWC have pulled the info off the site."


So, what does that mean? Well,it means that the Weinstein's are probably still planning on releasing Rogue theatrically in the USA and that the Australian distributer (Village Roadshow? Who?) is definitely still releasing it theatrically. Maybe the DVD thing was just a rumour? Who knows. There's still the not-so-slight possibility that it is indeed still going to be "[...] delegated to a few bits of white space at Blockbuster."


I suppose we won't know until we actually get a poster or a trailer or something that gives us a vague idea of what the hell is going on over at the Weinstein Company. Crazy.

Although, in all honesty, the reason this film deserves to be shown in US cinemas is so American audiences can experience the brilliance that is ASHKA!!!!!!!!! Granted, it's not actually ASHKA!!!!!!! in the movie, but it's CLOSE ENOUGH!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a fine update. i too would be incredibly angry even hostile if this movie went to DVD, especially in the U.S. i saw Wolf Creek by myself at a nice reputable theatre in New York City's Upper West Side and i was riveted, especially considering i thought it was just going to be a scary movie. but it was a brilliant work of film. and could i enjoy that? no. why? becuase all around me are snickering american teenagers. WHO JUST WANT TO SEE REALLY BAD HORROR FILMS ALL THE TIME. in my opnion, if this goes to dvd, that is the same as robbing intelligent Americans of a really good possibly scary but well-made flick.

Glenn Dunks said...

Yeah, I don't see why this goes direct-to-dvd yet any number of dumbass slasher flicks get released into a couple of thousand cinemas.

I mean, even if it was just a dump release like Primevil. Let it gross it's prerequisite $10mil and then quickly ship it off to DVD. But, there's really no excuse why the apparently quite good (and easily marketable) movie from an acclaimed talented director should share the same fate as I Will Always Know What You Did You Last Summer and American Pie 4 and 5.

None. At. All.

Jason Adams said...

Yay, thanks for the research Glenn. Good news indeed. Well, at least a hint of hope, which is more than I had yesterday. I did notice that on the Weinsten Company's website they still had a picture of the movie on their front page with upcoming releases, but of course no other actual info, ya know, like posters of trailers of ANYTHING. God. Fingers crossed, then.

Glenn Dunks said...

Yeah, here's hoping.

I have more hope for us than you guys though, but there's still hope for BOTH (amongst the daisies and rainbws and sugar plum fairies).

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your thoughtful restrained update. I am still waiting for the Trailer and Poster/s!!! I saw Wolf Creek and was really impressed with the way that it was shot and acted - true to life (certainly felt I was a part of the movie and wanted to hide) no stupid hollywood razzle dazzle over the top acting.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand what's going on with the Weinsteins these days. They completely mangled the North American distribution of Minghella's lovely and thoughtful Breaking and Entering. They couldn't have buried it more if they tried. It looks like Rogue may suffer the same fate.

Glenn Dunks said...

Don't get me started on Breaking & Entering. I really enjoyed that movie and I don't think it even made half a million dollars. And they royalled screwed up Miss Potter (say what you will about the quality, but it's been a hit elsewhere in the world) and Factory Girl and for the second year in a row they released a horror movie ON Christmas Day (Black Christmas).

If you have an anti-christmas movie then you release it before Christmas! It's old news after one day otherwise. They did that with Bad Santa so why not that one?

They're essentially idiots threefold.

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain Kami. I just came back from watching [i]Breaking and Entering[/i] the second time. I enjoy it even more than I did the first. I feel really bad for Minghella and the superb cast. It's hard enough to find an audience for a movie like B&E, but for the Weinsteins to not even bother. Minghella & co. were cheated big time.

Glenn Dunks said...

Unless the Weinstein's see huge dollar signs and / or Oscars they don't even bother.

The moment Minghella wants to make a movie set in the '50s they'll be there with bells on, guaranteed.