"Snowpiercer" will open the Los Angeles Film Festival after months of delays.
The LA Film Festival recently announced the news as it gears up for its June festival slate. Festival director Stephanie Allain said, "'Snowpiercer' is a wild ride and a spectacular way to open the 20th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Film Festival which is dedicated to the visionary spirit of L.A. that inspires artists around the world."
The movie by Bong Joon-ho has been in disputes with the Weinstein Company for months. Harvey Wienstein demanded a 20-minute cut of the film after he purchased the movie in 2012 at AFM.
According to Screenrant, the Weinstein Company wanted to remove scenes that fleshed out the characters' backgrounds and development, and "by getting rid of them, Snowpiercer would come across more as a pure action movie than a drama. The goal, said TWC when explaining the request to Bong, is to make sure his film 'will be understood by audiences in Iowa... and Oklahoma.' Weinstein also asked for introductory and closing voice-overs to be added in."
However after successful openings overseas Joon-Ho was against the idea and delays on the films release occurred. Back February Deadline reported that a trice had been made. The Weinstein Company decided to drop the film and hand it over to their specialty branch Radius TWC. Instead of a wide release which was in the contract, the film is now set for a platform release with a roll out and will also include a VOD release. The running time will now be two and a half hours and there will be no cuts.
Weinstein is known for buying films based on sizzle reels and not when the film is complete. He recently bought "The Imitation Game" at Berlin after seeing the first 15 minutes. However the film had not been completed and that could be a huge problem if the film does not meet the expectations. Additionally Weinstein entered disputes with Oliver Dahan over the final cut of his latest film "Grace of Monaco." The film was supposed to be released in November butwas delayed because Weinstein wanted to cut it into a more mainstream piece. However Dahan was not willing to give us his final cut powers.
The company also dropped James Gray's "The Immigrant" after having received mixed reviews at the Cannes Film Festival. Radius-TWC is now slated to release the picture but no updates on the films date have been announced.
"Snowpiercer is now slated to open the LA Film Festivalon June 11, two weeks before the film's U.S. release from Radius-TWC on June 27. The sci-fi actioner, starring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, and Song Kang-ho, tells the story of a peasant revolt on a massive "Snowpiercer" train which is the last bastion of humanity in an icy futuristic world after an experiment to combat global warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth.
The festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary and is slated to run from June 11 to 19.