SOUTHPAW was a successful box office hit during the summer and now the film is being re-released in over 300 cinemas from today, as announced by The Weinstein Company.
Some may be wondering why it is being re-released, well, at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Harvey Weinstein declared how he wanted to get the film’s lead, Jake Gyllenhaal an Oscar nomination for Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama SOUTHPAW.
Last year, the actor, who was hotly tipped to bag an Academy Award nomination for his superb role in NIGHTCRAWLER, was overlooked and now that the film has been given a chance “to be seen by a more drama- and awards-focused fall audience,” according to the distributor, he may well make up for it this time around.
The Weinstein Company President of Theatrical Distribution & Home Entertainment Erik Lomis, explained their decision for the re-release citing: “it gives more serious-minded audiences who may have missed it the first time around a chance to see a film that we feel is a very serious contender.”
Gyllenhaal has enjoyed a successful run of films the last few years with films like Denis Villeneuve‘s PRISONERS, the aforementioned NIGHTCRAWLER and he has also been working hard at various festivals this year with SOUTHPAW at Cannes, EVEREST which opened the Venice Film Festival and DEMOLITION the opener at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Of course, with every big movie that has been released, there is always a whisper of Oscar success and this year there are some huge contenders including Johnny Depp with BLACK MASS, Michael Fassbender for either STEVE JOBS or MACBETH, Matt Damon with THE MARTIAN, and of course last year’s Best Actor winner Eddie Redmayne could also be in contention with THE DANISH GIRL.
However, there are still other films to come with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s THE REVENANT, Bryan Cranston in TRUMBO and Tom Hanks in BRIDGE OF SPIES, which have already set the award speculation tongues wagging.
Either way, we are certainly looking forward to the remainder of the year and all of the buzz the award season brings.
