I told you a few days ago that MGM would move the Aretha Franklin biopic, “Respect,” from its January 15th opening. And now they have.
And I told you why: Without the James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” to generate cash, MGM does not have the resources to put on an Oscar campaign.
So they’ve taken Jennifer Hudson out of the Oscar race for this year, and wasted a lot of marketing already done for this film, directed Liesl Tommy.
They’ve wasted the Martin Luther King weekend release date, too. Going to August 11th? That’s the date used by “The Butler” a few years ago, and the time of August thought to be good for movies attracting black audiences.
Hudson must be crestfallen. If they’d stuck with this season, MGM had the musical territory to themselves. Now they’ll go right back into competition with “West Side Story” and “In the Heights” in 2021.
They’ll say it’s because of the pandemic, but I am told it is all about their financial situation. This way, James Bond will come in April and earn them millions that can be used for “Respect.” They could have gone VOD or to Apple or Netflix and still reaped the rewards.
What a shame. We needed this film for the 2021 Oscars. Like Rodney Dangerfield, we can’t get no respect!
