'Jupiter Ascending' release is delayed until 2015
Andy and Lana Wachowski鈥檚 next project,聽, looks as ambitious in scope and grandiose in design as everything else the filmmaking siblings have made in the past fifteen years; whether its grasp will exceed its reach, has been a real concern for even the most ardent of Wachowski fans. The聽聽have served up quite the dazzling聽smorgasbord of聽science fiction and fantasy tropes; unfortunately, in the wake of news that the movie has been delayed by nearly seven months, the signs聽are currently pointing to聽Jupiter Ascending聽possibly being a聽hot mess, rather than a聽Star Wars-ian mold-breaking epic.
聽The聽Wachowskis regained some of the critical luster that has eluded them since their聽Matrix聽days back in 2012, with their kaleidoscopic, genre-blending, saga adaptation,聽听(飞丑颈肠丑 Tom Tykwer co-directed); in spite of that, the costly project聽only earned $27 million during its U.S. theatrical run, though its $103 million foreign saved聽the movie from being written off as a complete financial bomb. Nonetheless, in a time when sequels, franchise reboots, and/or property re-imaginings tend聽聽(a time when even a Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller like聽聽isn鈥檛 considered to be a surefire bet), there鈥檚 fair reason to question聽聽鈥� with or without good word of mouth on its side, that is.
It鈥檚 therefore聽not unreasonable to assume that concerns about the shaky box office prospects did, at the least,聽partially听尘辞迟颈惫补迟别 Warner Bros. to move聽Jupiter Ascending聽away from July 2014聽to what should be the less-competitive month of February 2015.聽, however, is also reporting that the film 鈥� starring Mila Kunis as a seemingly ordinary聽human woman who is protected by a genetically-enhanced warrior (Channing Tatum) when outside forces discover that she is destined for far greater things 鈥� has been delayed to allow for an extended聽post-production period, so that the $150 million movie鈥檚 complex visual effects can be better completed and polished to a shine.
Warner Bros. have swapped out the Liam Neeson 补肠迟颈辞苍/迟丑谤颈濒濒别谤听听蹿辞谤听Jupiter Ascending, as its new release on February 6th next year. Other titles scheduled to open that day聽include Johnny Depp鈥檚 caper comedy聽聽and Legendary鈥檚聽聽movie 鈥� the latter being a big-budget fantasy based on聽the Wardstone Chronicles book series which, like聽Jupiter Ascending, has been delayed before, in part due to needing more time to finish its own visual effects. There鈥檚 definitely some overlap between聽Jupiter听补苍诲听Son, as far as demographic target appeal goes, but that doesn鈥檛 mean the pair cannot co-exist聽somewhat聽in peace.
As聽indicated before, the significant push-back for聽Jupiter Ascending聽doesn鈥檛 bode all that well for the film鈥檚 quality, especially seeing how the news is arriving just a month and a half before the film was slated to hit theaters. That said, not every movie that endures a significant delay winds up being聽; sometimes, you get something more worthwhile like the聽聽remake, which (similar to聽Jupiter) was originally supposed to arrive聽in the summertime, before it was shoved into a February launch date instead. As someone who generally enjoys the Wachowskis鈥� films, I鈥檒l keep hoping for the best -聽while still聽preparing for the worst.
Sandy Schaefer blogs at .
