Time to Get Serious - Brothers gongs and PoP billions

Lionsgate is waking up, realising that Brothers reaches American theatres in a mere three weeks. Last week's screening at the DGA, which resulted in a standing ovation, may have given the movie camp a much needed boot up the bum. The Oscar buzz is also snowballing (can a buzz snowball?). According to Steve Pond, 'A full slate of screenings begins next week, with Academy-geared television spots to follow.'


The Wrap continues: '...the DGA screening has apparently set in motion a string of events that will culminate in next week’s launch of a full-fledged best-picture campaign for the film, and a best-actor push for star Tobey Maguire, who plays a soldier presumed missing in Afghanistan until he returns home to his wife (Natalie Portman) and younger brother (Jake Gyllenhaal).'

'To hear producer Ryan Kavanaugh tell it, the filmmakers proceeded cautiously because of uncertainty about the new landscape for Oscar campaigning. “With the change in Academy policy, we really wanted to let the film speak for itself before we made the decision whether or not to campaign,” he says. “If it got the momentum it needed once we showed it, we would do everything we could to support it as much as we can. And it certainly seemed to get that momentum.”'


'Others at the Sunday screening say that the film was followed by a standing ovation, a rarity for the DGA, and an enthusiastically-received 45-minute Q&A session in which a common theme was questioners wondering why the film didn’t have a higher profile in the awards race. Between the raves from the DGA (as a group, a fairly accurate Oscar precursor) and positive comments from a few critics who’d seen the film, Sheridan’s camp reportedly decided a full campaign was in order. Lionsgate was in the thick of its campaign for Oscar frontrunner “Precious,” and was said to be surprised that the “Brothers” filmmakers suddenly wanted to shift into Oscar mode as well – but the company quickly agreed to do so.'


'A full slate of screenings begins next week, with Academy-geared television spots to follow. Lionsgate’s awards website now promotes the film in a wide range of categories including best picture, best director, best actor, supporting actor and actress, screenplay, and song for U2’s “Winter.” The song certainly sounds apt (“The broken and the bruised/The young and the used/The sure and confused/All here”) -- and while Kris Tapley speculates that the track may run afoul of the music branch’s strict rules because it was recorded during the band's "No Line on the Horizon" sessions, Kavanaugh says that it was "without question" written specifically for the film.'


Meanwhile, Disney and Ubisoft aren't counting the gongs for Prince of Persia, they're counting the billions. Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot said yesterday that 'the Jake Gyllenhaal-led action film franchise could be more lucrative than Disney's Pirates trilogy. "What we hear is that it could be maybe stronger than Pirates, which did $2.7 billion dollars," Guillemot said as part of his presentation to analysts and investors. "I think this will really help our brand to become a major brand in this industry."' So, no pressure then...

Clearly, one summer blockbuster cannot equal or outdo three summer blockbusters. Jake may get a second, third, chance to dive into a cage of ostriches after all.


Of course, today is 2012 day and that can mean only one thing - not the end of the world, but Jake Gyllenhaal's arrival on the big screen as Dastan! If you see the trailer today do let us know.

Images from the official Brothers website.