“Red Dawn,” the remake of John Milius’s 1984 classic, sneaks into theaters tomorrow with as little fanfare as possible. It’s one of the worst received films of this year or any other, with an 11% at rottentomatoes.com. If there was press for “Red Dawn,” it must have been somewhere else. The only premiere I know of was on a military base in California–no Hollywood or New York unveiling.
“Red Dawn” was ready for a release a year ago, but no one knew what to do with it. Now it comes on the same weekend as “Life of Pi” and the widening release of “Silver Linings Playbook,” with “Lincoln” and “Skyfall” doing great, and “Rise of the Guardians” taking over the animated field. Plus, “Twilight: The Trilogy Finally Ends, Pt. 2” is setting records.
“Red Dawn” signals the career debut of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s high school age, deejaying son Connor. But that p.r. twist isn’t going to mean much as the sun will set on this dawn long before many get to see him do any acting. MGM knows this: the “Red Dawn” DVD is already set for release on February 26, 2013– exactly 90 days from today, the bare minimum time from which a disc can be launched after a theatrical release, and two days after the Oscars–for which this film will not be a factor.
