"The Soloist" pulled from AFI FEST
Citing the release date change, "The Soloist" has been pulled as the opening night film for AFI FEST. It was to unspool October 30.
In a joint statement Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures and Participant Media said, “Due to the change in THE SOLOIST release date, we unfortunately had to withdraw from the AFI FEST Film Festival. It was an honor to be invited as the Opening Night film and we are very grateful to the festival for their support and understanding. THE SOLOIST filmmakers, DreamWorks, Universal, Participant and Paramount are very proud of this film and we are excited and committed to bring it to the world in March.”
“While we are greatly disappointed that AFI FEST will not have the opportunity to offer the World Premiere of THE SOLOIST, AFI's priority is to honor the artists. We wish to be supportive in any endeavor that will help a film of this quality reach a greater audience,” said AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo.
AFI FEST said a new opening film will be announced tomorrow.
In a joint statement Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures and Participant Media said, “Due to the change in THE SOLOIST release date, we unfortunately had to withdraw from the AFI FEST Film Festival. It was an honor to be invited as the Opening Night film and we are very grateful to the festival for their support and understanding. THE SOLOIST filmmakers, DreamWorks, Universal, Participant and Paramount are very proud of this film and we are excited and committed to bring it to the world in March.”
“While we are greatly disappointed that AFI FEST will not have the opportunity to offer the World Premiere of THE SOLOIST, AFI's priority is to honor the artists. We wish to be supportive in any endeavor that will help a film of this quality reach a greater audience,” said AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo.
AFI FEST said a new opening film will be announced tomorrow.
Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com. 
Yikes! One week before opening night! This is one of the biggest nightmares for a festival director. The program books have been printed and tickets have been sold... now with less than a week to go and TONS of other things for them to worry about, the AFI Fest staff have to drop everything and scramble to come up with a new plan because somebody at Paramount got a wild idea and thinks it'll result in bigger returns. My question: How in the world does this sort of last-minute shuffle help the film find an audience? (If I were the filmmaker, I'd be pissed.) And if I were in Rose's shoes, I certainly wouldn't have enough faith in Paramount or Dreamworks to offer them a high-profile screening slot anytime soon.
Posted by: Andrew Rodgers | 10/23/2008 11:25:04 AM