Tom Cruise will only have one movie this fall, “Jack Reacher 2: The Search for a Plot.” His other movie, set for January 2017, has just been moved.
“Mena,” a film with a lot of baggage, will now wait until September 29th, 2017. It was supposed to be released right after New Years.
Doug Liman directed it, and you know he makes good movies. But “Mena,” which is now called “American Made,” has had a lot of problems. A plane crash in Colombia on September 11, 2015 killed two people connected to the production.
Universal scheduled “Mena” for January 6th, which is like saying, this movie was so bad we didn’t know where to put it. But it must be very bad if they’re going to wait almost 10 months. Can re-shoots and new editing help it? This gives the 21 listed producers time to figure it out.
Like “Jack Reacher 2,” this Tom Cruise film doesn’t have an expensive cast. Cruise takes up so much of the budget that the rest of his casts (except for the “Mission Impossible” movies) are largely unknown. But the based on a true story of drug dealing in Colombia sounds convoluted and plot heavy without too much emphasis on character.
And that new title? “American Made”? Why not call it “Film 3,488”? Couldn’t think of a more generic title?
This too shall pass. Everyone will move on, and “Mena” will go to cable. It’s tough out there.
PS This is one of the movies that prevented Cruise from seeing his 9 year old daughter, Suri. He is very busy.
