The Weinstein Company had an off-year in terms of awards, but Harvey Weinstein is already putting that behind him with two movies that could put the distributor in the hunt for 2017 Oscars.
Up first is John Lee Hancock’s The Founder, which stars Michael Keaton and shows how the McDonald’s fast food empire was built. The film was originally scheduled for the prime awards season date of Nov. 25. However, on March 1, TWC moved it up to Aug. 5. That shouldn’t hurt the film’s chances too much, as we’ve seen in recent years that a late summer release doesn’t hurt if a movie is well reviewed.
Lion, which stars Rooney Mara, Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, will instead be released on Nov. 25. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is a platform release and is being directed by Garth Davis. It is based on a nonfiction book by Saroo Brierley and centers on an Indian man trying to find his lost family.
Mara was in the Oscar hunt this year with TWC’s Carol, although the film didn’t do as well during the awards season as Weinstein hoped. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
“I am determined to show that adult fare and award-caliber movies should be able to open any time of year and be successful,” Weinstein told THR. “Last season we saw a crowded fall where some terrific films struggled to find an audience. This year I want to spread out our slate of films and give them the best opportunity to succeed.”
As for Keaton, he has starred in two consecutive Best Picture winners - Birdman and Spotlight. He was nominated for Best Actor for Birdman.