Posts Tagged ‘Color of Money’

Levinson's Sphere

Thursday, September 11th, 1997

Barry Levinson‘s Sphere has been poked, prodded and pushed further than any studio film this year. First, it was delayed while WB execs decided to cough up Sharon Stone’s $6 million asking price. Then, they delayed production two months in order to rework the enormous effects budget. Next, they decided to shove it into theaters this December for Academy Award consideration, offering up Oscar regulars Levinson, Dustin Hoffman, Sam Jackson and Sharon Stone. But, apparently, there was so little “want-to-see” in test marketing, they decided to move the film into mid-February `97, traditionally a movie dead zone, in order to get the promo machine running at full speed. Warner Bros. now has to hope that the media doesn’t like the story about the delays better than they like the movie.
Ever see a movie that you heard was altered against the will of the filmmaker? And it still sucked? Do you still think the musical numbers in I’ll Do Anything, Bruce Willis‘ penis in Color of Money or the dirty jokes in Spawn would help? Well, Robert Altman‘s The Gingerbread Man will be right up your alley. After a bad test screening, Polygram decided to re-cut the quirky Altman thriller to make it more accessible to audiences. It didn’t work. They still hated it. So, Altman’s vision will hit the screens in its purest form, albeit next year, six months after its original release date. Maybe Polygram thinks that this rotten fruit will get better with time. After all, it worked for Gone Fishin’, Volcano and ‘Til There Was You. Right?
Disney’s busy trying re-establish distribution operations in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina, hopefully in time for the Christmas movie season. Special Bosnia-only versions of the Disney release schedule might include The Little Mercenary, 101 Dead Dalmatians and Honey, I Blew Up The Country.
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