Roadside Attractions Acquires I Love You Phillip Morris, Biutiful

News

Roadside Attractions, an independent distributor when it comes to theatrical releases, has made a double play and acquired two films that have had problems finding distribution (at least in the States).

First is the Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor starring gay romantic dramedy I Love You Phillip Morris. It will finally see a release on December 3rd. The film was one of those that struggled to get North American distribution. Financed by Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, the dramedy played at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and opened overseas grossing $17 million in the process. I Love You‘s original distributor, Consolidated Pictures Group, missed the original February 12 release date, and two other slots – March 26 and April 30 – were also scratched.

A legal quagmire between CPG and EuropaCorp has developed because of the young distribution company’s failure to pay a $3 million guarantee as well as P&A agreements. Now EuropaCorp has gone with Roadside Attractions and now I Love You Philip Morris has a firm release date and P&A commitment. [Deadline]

This is good news for the indie distributor as it now has three Oscar season films generating buzz.

The second film is Biutiful, which Indiewire reported had been picked up by Roadside prior to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. It is a film that had garnered a lot of press at the Cannes Film Festival where star Javier Bardem won a Best Actor award for his performance. He plays a “conflicted man struggling to reconcile fatherhood, family, love, remorse, spirituality, crime, seduction, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona.” The film is director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s feature-length follow-up to 2006’s Babel.

And then there’s Winter’s Bone. It has already had theatrical distribution by Roadside Attractions and will have an October bow on Blu-ray and DVD. The film’s star, Jennifer Lawrence, could contend for a Best Actress trophy.

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!