Neil Burger’s excellent comedy, “The Upside,” has found a home. STX has partnered with the Weinstein Company’s assets buyer, Lantern, to release the film. No date has been set yet, but it feels like a March movie.
“The Upside” is the American version of the French hit “The Intouchables.” Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman, and Julianna Margulies star in this beautifully made comedy that has potential for a lot of business.
Harvey Weinstein released “The Intouchables” and kept the US rights. He came up with the plan to bring in Hart and Cranston, and certainly Kidman. The Weinstein Company screened “The Upside” in Toronto almost a year ago to a rapturous audience. The plan was an Oscar eligibility run in December and then open in February.
But literally three weeks after the standing ovations at Roy Thomson Hall, Weinstein’s world came crashing down. Within a month his company was gone. “The Upside” became a bankruptcy asset.
I really hope “The Upside” gets a great marketing plan and opening. The people who made it deserve that, and so does the film.
