I am baffled by the release plan for the highly anticipated stop-action animation version of Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I don’t get why Fox Searchlight has opted for a limited release two weeks (New York gets it this Friday) prior to opening nationwide on November 25? A family movie with names like Clooney and Streep – treat as a potential blockbuster. Picturehouse/New Line did this with Kit Kittridge: An American Girl Movie, but no one paid heed to the warnings of that marketing mishandling or the success of the national release of the somewhat elusive Where The Wild Things Are.

These indie companies are trying to earn big $$ by putting out pictures with bigger appeal, so why treat them like indies?  Maybe they’d have some profits and cushion for  risky projects.

Why Wes Anderson’s pictures are released as arthouse fare escapes me. His populist appeal should result in attempts at a big opening weekend.  I thought a big national opening would have done wonders for Rushmore’s box office and Oscar chances.  Instead, I remember waiting until February of a cold Chicago winter for this film to hit two screens, after the Oscar push two months earlier.

 But Anderson’s passion indicates he isn’t in it for the money (the Oscars – maybe).    His films radiate exuberance, but I find the passion to be within, reserved for loving the work itself and the characters that inhabit his world.  I keep anticipating that he’ll break from that and offer something with greater depth sometime soon.  While I don’t hold him in the high esteem that many of my contemporaries do, but I will say that the working relationship between director and music supervisor (Randall Poster) makes for a consistently perfect pairing.  Despite my limited-release of love for Anderson, I still am eager for a family outing to Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Certain to be one of the two best talking fox movies of the year, along with Antichrist. The YouTube mash-ups are already up.

-Pops Corn