‘Up In The Air’ Schedules a New Date of Departure

A day after the trailer for ‘Up In The Air’ hit the net, /Film is reporting that the film has received a new release date.

Paramount Pictures had originally planned to release Jason Reitman’s new film Up in the Air on December 4th, but the overwhelming possitive buzz created by screenings at the Telluride Film Festival have resulted in a change of plans.

The plan now is to release the film in limited markets (yet to be decided) on November 13th, and go wide on November 25th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. My exhibitor spies had told me that Paramount was originally considering a November 20th limited / November 25th wide release, but decided to go earlier to capitalize on the buzz while the film is hot, and likely to get an edge on The Road, which was just moved back for a Thanksgiving release . The film will now hit theaters the same day as Roland Emmerich’s new disaster film 2012 and the limited release of Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The wide release on Thanksgiving weekend will see a lot of competition. Not only will it go head to head with the “wide” release of The Road, but Fantastic Mr. Fox’s wide expansion, Ninja Assassin, Old Dogs, and the NY/LA limited engagement of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.

After ‘Up In The Air’ screened at Telluride, the  Academy Awards  buzz over  the film  was almost deafening. Here’s a taste of what some of the Oscar pundits had to say:

Anne Thompson of indieWIRE’s  Thompson on Hollywood wrote:

The director, who debuted Juno here two years ago at the same theater, delivers a winner. Loosely based on Walter Kirn’s novel, Reitman’s updated movie, which he started working on six years ago, has become, with the economic downturn, far more timely. It’s a witty, charming and moving exploration of a world we all recognize.

In Contention’s Kristopher Tapley said:

This is one of the year’s finest films.

Lastly, Todd McCarthy  with his review from  Variety:

The tale of an aloof, high-flying exec whose millions of frequent-flyer miles can’t keep him permanently above the emotional turbulence he seeks to avoid, “Up in the Air” is a slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Just as “Thank You for Smoking” and “Juno” did in their own ways, Jason Reitman’s third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically convulsive manner. Unlike many of the characters onscreen, nobody is going to lose any jobs on the basis of their work here, as a buoyant commercial flight lies ahead.  

We’ll see what happens to the film next as it flies from Telluride over to the Toronto International Film Festival which begins tonight.