Iluvthe80s
1-25-04, 08:21 PM
*From Eonline.com:
Johnny Come Early
by Josh Grossberg
Jan 23, 2004, 6:25 PM PT
It used to be a little Depp'd do ya. But these days in Hollywood a lot of Depp is preferable.
Hoping to capitalize on the tremendous buzz Johnny Depp's received since the blockbuster success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sony Pictures Entertainment is rushing the release of the actor's latest flick, a thriller called Secret Window, to March 12 from its original April 23 launch.
Studio execs are hoping the six-week advance in scheduling will improve Window chances at the box office, especially if Depp wins either a Golden Globe or a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. He also has an outside chance at an Oscar nomination next Tuesday, which would raise his profile even higher.
Depp's turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's Pirates has proven a huge hit with moviegoers, as well as critics. Since sailing into theaters last July, the Disney swashbuckler has grossed more than $305 million in domestic ticket sales and tallied more than $652 million worldwide, not to mention selling boatloads of DVDs.
Depp also stole the show in Sony's Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which grossed a solid $56 million domestically last year.
Sony hopes for even bigger success with Secret Window. Based on a Stephen King novella, the film stars Depp as a depressed writer suffering through a painful divorce and being stalked by a psychotic stranger (John Turturro).
"Johnny Depp is just terrific in this film," says Jeff Blake, who, as Sony's president of worldwide marketing and distribution, is pulling for another deft Depp perfomance at the box office. "Whenever you have a thriller that plays as well as Secret Window, you listen to your audience and you get your film out there."
Blake says that Sony's Columbia Pictures division will begin rolling out its promotional campaign for the flick with a TV ad on February 1, aka Super Bowl Sunday.
The move will also give Window a jump on two other thrillers, Warners' serial-killer drama Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie and Universal's remake of Dawn of the Dead, both of which will be released a week later on March 19.
Secret Window was adapted and directed by David Koepp, the A-list scribe behind Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Spider-Man, whose most recently helming job was 1999's Stir of Echoes.
Window also costars Maria Bello (who like Depp, is up for a Golden Globe and SAG honors for her performance in The Cooler), Timothy Hutton and Charles S. Dutton.
Besides Window, Depp has a few other would-be blockbusters on the horizon. Not only has he agreed to come aboard a Pirates sequel, but he's also Tim Burton's top choice to play candy man Willy Wonka in a update of Roald Dahl's classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory due out in 2005.
The actor will also be keeping his art-house cred with a couple of upcoming projects. He will reunite with his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas partner Benicio Del Toro for The Rum Diary, an adaptation of an earlier Hunter S. Thompson novel that Del Toro plans to direct. Depp will also portray the 18th century poet John Wimot, aka the Earl of Rochester, whose famed life of debauchery is the basis for the biopic The Libertine.
Johnny Come Early
by Josh Grossberg
Jan 23, 2004, 6:25 PM PT
It used to be a little Depp'd do ya. But these days in Hollywood a lot of Depp is preferable.
Hoping to capitalize on the tremendous buzz Johnny Depp's received since the blockbuster success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sony Pictures Entertainment is rushing the release of the actor's latest flick, a thriller called Secret Window, to March 12 from its original April 23 launch.
Studio execs are hoping the six-week advance in scheduling will improve Window chances at the box office, especially if Depp wins either a Golden Globe or a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. He also has an outside chance at an Oscar nomination next Tuesday, which would raise his profile even higher.
Depp's turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's Pirates has proven a huge hit with moviegoers, as well as critics. Since sailing into theaters last July, the Disney swashbuckler has grossed more than $305 million in domestic ticket sales and tallied more than $652 million worldwide, not to mention selling boatloads of DVDs.
Depp also stole the show in Sony's Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which grossed a solid $56 million domestically last year.
Sony hopes for even bigger success with Secret Window. Based on a Stephen King novella, the film stars Depp as a depressed writer suffering through a painful divorce and being stalked by a psychotic stranger (John Turturro).
"Johnny Depp is just terrific in this film," says Jeff Blake, who, as Sony's president of worldwide marketing and distribution, is pulling for another deft Depp perfomance at the box office. "Whenever you have a thriller that plays as well as Secret Window, you listen to your audience and you get your film out there."
Blake says that Sony's Columbia Pictures division will begin rolling out its promotional campaign for the flick with a TV ad on February 1, aka Super Bowl Sunday.
The move will also give Window a jump on two other thrillers, Warners' serial-killer drama Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie and Universal's remake of Dawn of the Dead, both of which will be released a week later on March 19.
Secret Window was adapted and directed by David Koepp, the A-list scribe behind Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Spider-Man, whose most recently helming job was 1999's Stir of Echoes.
Window also costars Maria Bello (who like Depp, is up for a Golden Globe and SAG honors for her performance in The Cooler), Timothy Hutton and Charles S. Dutton.
Besides Window, Depp has a few other would-be blockbusters on the horizon. Not only has he agreed to come aboard a Pirates sequel, but he's also Tim Burton's top choice to play candy man Willy Wonka in a update of Roald Dahl's classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory due out in 2005.
The actor will also be keeping his art-house cred with a couple of upcoming projects. He will reunite with his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas partner Benicio Del Toro for The Rum Diary, an adaptation of an earlier Hunter S. Thompson novel that Del Toro plans to direct. Depp will also portray the 18th century poet John Wimot, aka the Earl of Rochester, whose famed life of debauchery is the basis for the biopic The Libertine.