Hank Williams Movie Buzz: Biopic On Iconic Singer Out Of This Year's Oscar Race
The release date of the Hank Williams biopic, I Saw the Light, has been pushed back by a year.
This movie is now set for a 2016 release, which means that it will be out of this year's Oscar race. In an interview with Deadline, Sony Pictures Classic President Tom Bernard spoke about taking the decision to push the release date.
"We looked at the landscape and are making a decision that I think is a good one for the film, " Bernard said. "Tom Hiddleston's got three movies out potentially so the press is consuming him. I am watching him here in New York everywhere. And he's going back down the river to catch the monkey. What we saw was I Saw The Light up against the wall in this tight race of people throwing their Oscar movies out, and it's almost all or nothing. We thought this was a movie we could do a lot for leading up to its release that I think will put it in a much better place and we'll be able to go for it (Oscars) next year with him and re-open it at Christmas."
He went on to explain their strategy which had a lot to do with Oscar season and how many logically there might not be enough screens to meet their goal, especially with the release of Star Wars in December.
"Look at the casualities. There are movies we have passed on because they want an Oscar campaign. There are just not enough screens, not to mention the elephant in the room that no one is even talking about and that's how many screens are going to be available when Star Wars comes out (on Dec 18). I believe they may have every screen in the complex except one," he laughed while pointing out I Saw The Light was scheduled to go wide on December 4 and likely would be off in many locales, including the South, when Star Wars hits. "A lot bigger movies than this are going to be off too."
