The terrorists have won!
Maybe. Warner Bros has pushed V For Vendetta back to 2006, for reasons they wouldn’t specify. Of course, speculation will run rampant (starting here, I hope!) that the reasoning for the delay is the London bombings of a month ago, which had an uncanny lack of resemblance to the events of the film.
Obviously the most surfacey aspects bear some resemblance – bombings in the city of London, generically speaking. But it may be the fact that the bombs in the movie are set off by the hero that is causing Warner Bros to hold onto the film. That’s tougher to sell to people in "This Day and Age" or "In These Troubled Times."
Let’s not discount another very strong possibility – the movie’s no good. I have been getting mixed buzz off this thing for some time now. To my naked eye it all looks pretty good, but there have been hints of trouble.
Joel Silver, the producer, was full of positive thoughts about the film at Comic Con, but I honestly think now that the only reason the film was being presented there – just a week after the bombings – was that it would have looked really weird to pull it out at the last minute. If this is a reaction to current events, it’s likely the studio hadn’t yet decided what the heck to do with this movie, and pulling the presentation would have made the decision for them.
I hope to have more information on this soon – as well as a script review! Keep checking back for more.
UPDATED! The new release date is March 17th, 2006. I just spoke to a terribly helpful Warner Bros spokesperson who said that the move is because the movie won’t be finished in time for the November 4th release date.