October
16
Paramount Pulls Back Soloist and Defiance
Paramount is saving some money this fourth quarter--making your numbers means a lot to Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, especially in these turbulent times on Wall Street. The studio will save some $60-70 million by pushing back to 2009 its P & A spends on The Soloist, the DreamWorks/Working Title would-be Oscar contender starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, that will now bow in March, and Ed Zwick's Defiance, starring Daniel Craig. Here's our story.
The fact that The Soloist was a mere month away from opening November 21 is shocking. Paramount had a trailer out (on Eagle Eye), TV spots had already run, and more were scheduled, which the studio may have to pay for. DreamWorks is not happy but there isn't a lot they can do. Paramount will lobby heavily for their Iron Man star Downey's supporting role in Tropic Thunder, and is clearly betting that Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road and David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are its big Oscar plays.
Zwick's holocaust drama Defiance starring Daniel Craig was supposed to open December 12 and will now have a late-December qualifying Oscar run, with a wider release January 16.



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