Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Disney to bump The Alamo to an April opening

This is topic Disney to bump The Alamo to an April opening in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 10-30-2003, 12:16 PM:

The Walt Disney Company on Tuesday postponed the opening of "The Alamo" to April 2004 from its December 25th release date.

According to IMDB

http://us.imdb.com/StudioBrief/#1

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-30-2003, 01:33 PM:

Good. We need more family friendly stuff in the spring. People are going to go broke this holiday season with all the kid movies out there.

Wonder if this will change their plans for "Hidalgo?"

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 10-30-2003, 03:10 PM:

Here is the story.

Just eight weeks before it was to be released -- and with trailers already being shown in theaters -- the Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday postponed the opening of The Alamo to April. In an interview with today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times, co-producer Mark Johnson said, "It's proven to be more difficult than we thought." Separately, Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said in a statement, "Too often in Hollywood these days, release dates are set before a film has even completed shooting and it forces the director into a situation that compromises the work. ... Ultimately, the end product is more important than the need to meet arbitrary deadlines for awards, etc." The delay will undoubtedly boost the $80-million budget for the film. Ironically, it was Disney's decision to scale back the budget of the film (from a reported $125 million) that reportedly led to Ron Howard's decision to bow out of the project as director. Howard, who had originally championed the production, and partner Brian Grazer remain as producers.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-30-2003, 04:59 PM:

quote:
Good. We need more family friendly stuff in the spring. People are going to go broke this holiday season with all the kid movies out there.

The Alamo is hardly "family friendly stuff". It's one of those epics that Oscar voters go ga-ga for. The trailer bites anyway.

At least Touchstone will have Calendar Girls [Smile]

for Xmas in the States. That'll be a winner!

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 10-31-2003, 06:52 PM:

I don't think the trailer really bites, but I don't think its phenominal either. What concerns us the most about "The Alamo" is we want an epic story be told about the Alamo . None of this "Pearl Harbor" crap inwhich a three hour movie is based upon a forty-five minute scene.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 10-31-2003, 10:30 PM:

The word is:

Billy Bob's portrayal of Davy Crockett is laughable and not Academy award worthy......

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-01-2003, 11:07 AM:

There has yet to be a GOOD film made about the Alamo. I can't remember the first one being too good either. Perhaps this is a film that Kubrick should have done so the powers that be couldn't tamper with it afterwords....or beforewords.....
Mark

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-01-2003, 01:13 PM:

quote:
Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday postponed the opening of The Alamo to April.

Oops, not a good sign. It's starting to fall into the pattern of the first one!

If any picture should have been a Christmas release, I would think it'd be this one.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 11-01-2003, 09:30 PM:

Without Todd-AO it's already a step down.

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 11-02-2003, 05:44 PM:

quote:
The word is:

Billy Bob's portrayal of Davy Crockett is laughable and not Academy award worthy......

Well..I'm sure it's not Academy Award worthy but from seeing the trailer, I did not have the slightest feeling that this film would be Academy Award material, even though it might wind up being an okay film.

As far as Billy Bob's portrayal of Crockett is concerned, a recent PBS biography on Crockett indicated that he was an uneducated and rough-speaking person. So Billy Bob's portrayal might be right on the money. And I think that this version will probably stick a bit more to the facts and show more of the Mexicans' point of view as well.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 11-03-2003, 02:00 AM:

When I read the subject line, I immediately got a vision of a very large woman smacking the Alamo repeatedly with her hip while Joe Tex's greatest hit played on a boombox at her feet.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 11-04-2003, 06:04 PM:

quote:
And I think that this version will probably stick a bit more to the facts and show more of the Mexicans' point of view as well.

One could hope, but in the past 30 years revisionist historians have uncovered a new twist to the old story about the Alamo. Apparantly, a Mexican soldier named "de la Pena" kept a diary of the 1836 battle in which he claims Davy Crockett and a few other Tennessee volunteers were captured as prisoners, then shot later on orders from Santa Anna himself. There is no way this can be credited or discredited. Nobody really knows who this guy was and his diary was not uncovered until the mid-1950's. I'll be watching to see if Disney follows the old blue-blooded American storyline inwhich brave Texans died fighting for freedom from oppression (what a crock!), or this other version.

And for you Texans, just let me point out that those men who died at the Alamo were all in favor of Texas independence based upon a slave society, so don't flame me for some irritating remark.