Bryan Singer’s directorial career may be still off the rails, at least if the latest move by MGM and United Artists is any indication: his next film, Valkyrie, is being moved from a potential Oscar berth in October to the dumping grounds of February, where it will compete with Friday the 13th. Ouch.
Buzz on the film, which stars Tom Cruise with an apparently dismal German accent, has been negative, but I couldn’t tell how much of that was just the general noise that surrounds Cruise these days. Apparently that buzz has some meaning and the studio doesn’t think this film stands a chance in the awards race, even with a pretty damn decent cast besides Lord Xenu’s biggest enemy.
Looking back at Cruise’s filmography, Valkyrie is his first movie to get such a dumping… and it’s his own company! Listen to this spin by UA’s Dennis Rice, President of Worldwide Marketing and Publicity. “We’re delighted that MGM has agreed to hold the release until the very strong holiday weekend.” Yeah, because President’s Day is the next big holiday after October. There’s just no way to read this except that the film is not strong enough to be an end of year contender.
By the way – this is Valkyrie’s second move. The film was originally slated for this summer.