Accomplished director Doug Liman will not attend the opening of South by Southwest this year, even though his own film is the premiere.
Liman directed the remake of the Patrick Swazye movie “Road House,” starring a very buff Jake Gyllenhaal. The trailer’s out today and it looks like a box office winner.
But “Road House” will not be going to theaters, and Liman is pissed. He says the movie was made for MGM before Amazon bought them. Then he says he was told it was likely the new Amazon and MGM would release it to theaters. But now “Road House” is going to Amazon Prime.
Liman wrote a piece for Deadline.com explaining his position. You can find it here. I’m a little surprised this has gone public. Liman is in demand, and works with Tom Cruise a lot. (See “American Made,” “Edge of Tomorrow.” They’re also going to film in space.) The people at Amazon are smart and nice. What a situation!
From the looks of the trailer, “Road House” would score a knockout punch in theaters. Why not give it a two week window?
