New release dates: The Road, Up in the Air, The Lovely Bones and more

There's been a lot of date changes and date announcements over the last day or so.


John Hillcoat's The Road is getting moved yet again. It was to have been released last fall, but it got pushed back. It finally premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week, but The Weinstein Company has pushed it back once again - this time by a little over a month. The film is now set to open on November 25 instead of October 16. With the new Thanksgiving weekend release The Road is going to have to contend with Disney's Old Dogs, Ninja Assassin, another Oscar hopeful Nine (also from The Weinstein Company), and Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox which will be going wide.

Jason Reitman's Up in the Air still has a wide release date of December 4, but it will likely have a limited release date of November 13 - probably in New York and L.A. The film will slowly expand and start to go wider on November 25. This means it will have to contend with The Road and Nine.

Also opening on November 25 is Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles starring Zac Efron and Claire Danes. It had premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, but it's only now getting a theatrical release date.


Fantastic Mr. Fox will be in limited release on November 13 before its wide release on November 25 as previously mentioned.

Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story is being moved to October 2.

Low-budget horror film Paranormal Activity is getting a limited opening on September 25 and will expand based on how well it does. According to ComingSoon the film is about a young couple who "suspects that their house is haunted by a malevolent entity. They set up video surveillance to capture evidence of what happens at night as they sleep. Their surveillance and home videos have been edited into the 99 minute feature film." Apparently the film is terrifying.

Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones will be in limited release on December 11 and then expand on Christmas Day. It goes wide on January 15.

The latest film from the Coen brothers, A Serious Man is still scheduled for its limited release on October 2, but its U.S. premier is now set for September 24 in New York City at the Ziegfeld Theater.

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Evans has been picked up by Paladin and will screen at a few fall festivals before its limited release in late December in New York and L.A. It should expand in early 2010, but no word yet on an exact date.

New clip and teaser trailer from Up in the Air

The trailer (via Awards Daily) will probably be taken down soon, so watch it before it does:

Update: I've replaced the trailer that was taken down.

The characters played by George Clooney and Vera Farmiga are superficial, always traveling, and addicted to their frequent-flyer miles. I suppose it's the chemistry between them in the clip that has me interested - they look like they're made for each other. A brand new clip (also via Awards Daily) from the film is posted at the bottom of the page.

The reviews are in from Telluride, which give us more on the film.

Todd McCarthy from Variety:

The tale of an aloof, high-flying exec whose millions of frequent-flyer miles can't keep him permanently above the emotional turbulence he seeks to avoid, "Up in the Air" is a slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Just as "Thank You for Smoking" and "Juno" did in their own ways, Jason Reitman's third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically convulsive manner. Unlike many of the characters onscreen, nobody is going to lose any jobs on the basis of their work here, as a buoyant commercial flight lies ahead.

Clooney has scarcely ever been more magnetic onscreen than he is here as Ryan Bingham, a gun-for-hire who specializes in the dirty work some corporate bosses don't like to do themselves, firing employees. He's great at his job, expert at suggesting to devastated workers that new horizons in life can now be explored, and he loves the lifestyle of spending most of his time in business class seats and upscale hotels; given that, at last count, he's on the move 322 days per year, his modest apartment in Omaha resembles an undecorated motel room.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson:

The movie reveals where we are now. The opening credits set the tone, as a zingy cover of “This land was made for you and me” accompanies a montage of fly-over spots. Bingham starts up a flirtation with a fellow-traveler (Vera Farmiga) as they slap down rival credit cards and compare flier miles and mile high club banter. He wants to break the 10 million miles mark—in the past year he spent 43 days at home. The rest he was on the road. She seems to be his perfect match.

The movie does not offer easy solutions. Reitman interviews 25 real people who lost their jobs, who are genuinely moving. Over the closing credits he uses a song about job loss given to him by 50-ish Kevin Renick during filming on audiotape. “I like to ask questions with my movies,” Reitman said at the Q & A. “This is the most personal movie I’ve made and could be the most personal movie I’ll ever make.”

Stephen Farber from The Hollywood Reporter:

Cynicism and sentiment have melded magically in movies by some of the best American directors, from Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder to Alexander Payne. Jason Reitman mined the same territory in "Thank You for Smoking" and his smash hit, "Juno," and it's pleasing to report that he's taken another rewarding journey down this prickly path in his eagerly awaited new film, "Up in the Air." Boasting one of George Clooney's strongest performances, the film seems like a surefire awards contender, and the buzz will attract a sizable audience, even though some viewers might be startled by the uncompromising finale.

Kris Tapley from In Contention:

The film is a triumph. It drips with Reitman’s passion, his love for his wife and child, his assessment of his own journey into adulthood. He just finished telling the audience at the Chuck Jones Theater that it’s probably the most personal film he’ll ever make. One can certainly understand the sentiment.

I’ll get into this more later, but I consider it a four-star knockout that couldn’t have hit the country and, to speak personally, me, at a more perfect time.

Up in the Air opens December 4.

Links for you: George Clooney 'Up in the Air' and Sam Rockwell is a busy man

The first photos of George Clooney on the set of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air have surfaced. Clooney plays a corporate suit who "specializes in 'career transition counseling'" (read: firing people) and is obsessed with getting 1 million frequent flier miles. [TheBadandUgly.com]


Sci-fi drama, Moon gets reviewed (it's great) in what Kristopher Tapley thinks will become a banner year for sci-fi cinema (sort of like what 2001 was for fantasy). Sam Rockwell, as usual, gets much of the praise. Each film he stars in has me convinced that will be the one role that gets him noticed. I've lost count of how many times that's happened. [In Contention]


And speaking of Sam Rockwell: he's now shooting Iron Man 2. Rockwell's character Justin Hammer is different from how we remember him from the comic books. [MTV via IESB]

Robert Downey Jr. sort of wanted to play Hugh Hefner. Now Hef wants Downey to play him. Can we get this thing made already? [Hollyscoop]



Star Trek isn't out yet (holy crap it opens tomorrow in my country!), but sequel casting is already underway (well, kind of). Star Trek writers Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci think Javier Bardem would make a great Khan. [ComingSoon via The Movie Blog]


My Life in Ruins is meant to be a comedy, but it's apparently unfunny. Sigh, and I had such high hopes for Nia Vardalos after My Big Fat Greek Wedding. [Variety]

And finally for your viewing pleasure from The Onion - Trekkies bash the new Star Trek film for being entertaining, fun, and watchable:


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'