Doc Films’ lineup this quarter will change due to Miramax’s recent pulling of three movies. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will replace Gangs of New York this Saturday, The Matrix will replace Chicago on Friday, May 9, and Talk to Her will be shown on Friday, May 16 instead of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
“A lot of times they can make more money by re-releasing them to professional theaters than giving them to us,” said Abe Frank, a third-year in the College and Doc’s programming chair. “Normally if they win awards, they hold them a little longer.”
Frank said that Chicago’s superior performance at theaters and the Academy Awards was the reason that Miramax decided to pull it. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, however, did not receive much publicity and did poorly in the box office, so Miramax has decided to re-release it to theaters this August.
“They try to get enough money to make it look like the movie did really well even though it’s over a long period of time,” said Ki Shih, a second-year in the College and Doc’s former programming chair.
Neither Frank nor Shih could speculate as to why Miramax had decided to revoke Gangs of New York, which fared poorly both in theaters and at the Academy Awards.
After hearing that the three movies would be pulled, Doc members voted on the replacements. The Matrix was chosen since its sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, will be released in theaters a week later.
“The other two both got very high votes. The vote for Talk to Her was really high, but we didn’t think we could get it in time because it got nominated for Academy Awards,” Frank said. “These movies are much better than the ones that got pulled.”
According to Frank, the group has had problems with Miramax before. “They give us tentative release dates, but then they don’t confirm them and they keep us in the dark,” he said.
Miramax pulled a Martin Scorsese film, My Voyage to Italy, earlier this quarter, just before the schedules were printed, so Doc was able to change it in time. But a series, Voyage to Italy: Postwar Italian Films, had already been scheduled to complement the film.
According to Shih, Miramax also revoked Amelie a few quarters ago, but Doc was able to show the film the next quarter.
