The Road, Defiance and The Soloist shift release dates

With the year-end assault of prestige movies upon us, three major awards contenders—The Road, Defiance and The Soloist—have taken a more tentative place in the annual grind over concerns about release dates.

In the case of The Road, rumors floated yesterday that the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel will not be ready for its scheduled Nov. 14 launch, or possibly even by the end of the year. Industry talk about the film had been limited—especially since the last McCarthy adaptation, No Country for Old Men, turned out to be the big winner last year—but Vulture reports that a near-complete cut was screened in New York this week. The Weinstein Company won’t confirm the move, so it’s likely the date is still in limbo.

Defiance and The Soloist, meanwhile, seem to be the first causalities of the schedule crunch Paramount announced this week. Defiance, Edward Zwick's drama about a Nazi resistance movement, will still be in the running for Oscar consideration with a qualifying run set to begin Dec. 31, but the movie won’t open in most of the country until Jan. 16. It had previously been set for a Dec. 12 bow.

The Soloist is the confirmed loser, with Paramount moving Joe Wright’s movie from November to March 13, 2009, which puts Jamie Foxx’s best supporting actor hopes out of the question. Paramount says the move has to do with business and nothing else, but even so, the film will have a very different kind of launch than the one long expected.

This latest news comes amid an even more drama-filled season than usual, and we’re still a long way off from Feb. 22, when the 2009 Academy Awards are set to air. It’s going to be a long few months.

Related links:
News: The Soloist debuts with powerful trailer and Oscar buzz
Ctrl-V: Trailer Stash: Twilight, The Unborn, Defiance
News: Updated: Guy Pearce joins Theron and Mortensen in The Road

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