Friday, January 2, 2015

Looking ahead for 2015

Happy New Year! Another great year for Word on the Streep. I would like to thank any and all readers/commenters for your viewership. It makes maintaining this blog worth it when I know my posts are actually read on occasion. I truly appreciate all your insights and enthusiasm!

This should be a pretty busy year for Ms Meryl.  Into the Woods is currently slaying at the box office.  The Golden Globe Awards are next weekend, Oscar nominations come out four days later, then SAGs at the end of January.  I'm still hoping beyond hope that by some miracle Master Class still gets made, as it was set to begin filming this month.  Florence Foster Jenkins is scheduled for filming in May (still think it's a possibility for a 2015 release).

Over the past week, several sources have been now listing an updated release date for Ricki and the Flash,which has apparently been pushed back from June 26 to August 7.  The August date is similar to both Julie & Julia and Hope Springs.  Considering Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo and an article in The Atlantic now list the new date, I've gone ahead and changed it on the countdown.

You can see I've also added a countdown for Suffragette, as there's finally a believable release date for the film of September 11 in the U.K.  No word yet on its U.S. date, but as it's a British film, I don't imagine it will be before the 11th.  

Finally, with the recent news from FilmNation, we may see Meryl re-teaming with Bob De Niro in the fall to film The Good House.  It's likely Meryl will take some time off after this year, but hopefully it's not more than a year between projects.  I prefer when she has at least one picture released every calendar year.

Cheers to Meryl, the new year and to all contributors on this site!


8 comments:

  1. I like the August release date for Ricki
    because it's more Oscar-worthy than June. I saw Mer on Letterman last night and she looked fabulous. I can't remember Meryl looking so sexy-trim since she lost a bunch of weight for Prada. Letterman was all over Meryl's brilliant turn in Into the Woods. The clip
    Of the film (meryl singing stay with me) brought a standing ovation from Dave and the audiance...

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  2. My hopes for 2015:

    1. Into The Woods becomes Meryl's second highest grossing film, continues with good reviews and lands her Oscar and BAFTA nods

    2. Masterclass goes forward. I agree Meryl has lost a lot of weight and hope this is a sign the project has found a new Director. I'm sure since it was all but a done deal last year and with Meryl attached many other Directors would happily jump onboard. I just hope they are worthy of the cause

    3. Florence is filmed for Meryl's summer spot next year and Hugh Grant doesn't let the side down and play himself, as per usual

    4. Suffragette does well. I don't mind if it gets lost at the Box Office like The Homesman as I don't see Meryl getting masses of attention for it but another critical success would be a pleasure

    5. Ricki and the Flash is released in the summer to stellar reviews and ticket sales, further solidifying Meryl's Box office mastery and hopefully awards next season

    6. The Good House script and financing comes together

    7. Meryl gets an Emmy nomination for her voice work on The Roosevelts and a nice rest!

    (I know I'm greedy but come on!)

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    Replies
    1. What a fantastic list! I forgot about the voiceover nomination possibility. A very greedy wish I have would be for Master Class to get made (and be released in 2015), Florence to wrap early enough to somehow get a December release and then Meryl get THREE Golden Globe nominations next year (Comedy/Musical for Ricki, Drama for Florence and TV Movie Actress for Master Class).

      Ricki could be kind of a great film with good box office but maybe not enough for Oscar nom, where I could totally see Florence being that. Plus, those three nominations in one year would probably be a record and it would be for playing three singers!

      I'm crazy.

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    2. I would love that too but I guess it depends on how quickly they can wrap Florence and whether the tone would work better at Christmas or for a lighter Summer release.

      I am hoping from the fact that Meryl will sing, play guitar and have a lot of tricky emotions to explore Ricki will be strong enough to put her into consideration in 2016.

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    3. I think it's very possible that Florence will have a lighter tone as you suggested, which would probably again do well in that later summer slot. But then again I of course haven't read the script. The character could be shown as kind of tragic and then resilient, which would seem more end of year-ish.

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    4. Absolutely, it boils down to the script. My suspicion is they will play up the comedic value of her performances and reputation but not make her a joke. I would love a 3-nomination year but I also liked it when Meryl once talked about her now having a "slot" in summer counter-scheduling as well which I would love to continue!

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    5. I like your thinking on this. Meryl is very aware of audience demographics and in recent interview with Sondheim and Marshall she "bet her life" on the fact that audiences are way ahead of studio executives. I imagine she wants her films to make money too, not just garner awards (which she loves though).

      It's so helpful that Into the Woods is doing so well. It'll make people show up for Ricki next summer, AND it makes movies get greenlit. Norah Ephron stated once that it's unlikely they would've been able to finance Julie & Julia without Devil Wears Prada/Mamma Mia! having done so well at the box office.

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    6. I was just thinking about that Nora Ephron comment today Jeff! I was considering some bitter comments about Meryl getting all the the most coveted roles for older actresses but countered this in my mind with the fact the Meryl name gets films off the floor, so to speak.

      I remember in my first month after moving to London in 2008, 2 ladies in the elevator were debating which film they should see and they agreed on Mamma Mia on the premise that "With Meryl Streep you don't go far wrong..."

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