The Post Post

After writing my Capsule Review of The Post yesterday and then linking to it online, I noticed how many people commented with great pleasure but even more suprise that they'd never even heard of such a notable movie, despite it having such high-profile actors like Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and a high-profile director as Steven Spielberg.

And it certainly is something surprising with the film having that pedigree.  What subsequently occurred to me is that -- my guess -- is the movie will not be having its Big Wide Release in December, but instead just a very limited one in only a few theaters to qualify for Oscar nominations. I'm sure it will get a Best Picture nomination, for starters. Streep likely will, too, and maybe Spielberg. I don't know about Hanks -- not that he isn't very good, he is, but the category seems very crowded this year (Within just the past couple of weeks alone, I've seen three performances that struck me as possible strong nominees.  Denzel Washington is my own leading contender for Roman J. Israel, Esq; Woody Harrelson was terrific in LBJ, and Gary Oldman gives a superb performance as Churchill in Darkest Hour, for starters. And only a few weeks before that, James Franco chewed-up the scenery wonderfully in The Disaster Artist.  I'm not saying they'll all get nominated, but just showing how crowded the field is). 

As high-powered as the names are who are involved with the movie, it's still not a film that inherently would leap out to the public as a national whizbang Must See National Blockbuster.  ("Hey, do you want to go to that movie about the newspaper and something to do with the Pentagon?")  My assumption is that the studio most-likely wants to build on this as a Prestige Film that could get Oscar nominations as a very helpful selling point before its wide release, sort of a shorthand way of saying, "No, honest, this is really good."  As a result, they probably aren't promoting it anywhere...yet.

In fact, after just writing this, I went and did some researching.  Indeed, the movie is not opening wide next month.  Its general release will come on January 22, 2018.  Nominations are announced on January 22.