We’re been hearing about the Keanu Reeves fantasy-adventure film 47 Ronin, about a real-life group of 18th-century Japanese samurai, since it was originally announced in 2008, and the film was shot in the beginning of 2011. Even with the extensive 3D effects it seems like the film should have had little trouble of hitting its initial November 21, 2012 release date (check out the original poster to the left), but it was pushed back to February 8, 2013 and then all the way back to December 25, 2013. As one could guess, that really wasn’t a good sign for the production.
TheWrap.com and other outlets have seemed to finally uncover the reason behind the delays: Universal has reportedly removed director Carl Erik Rinsch from the project’s editing and the editing will now be overseen by Universal co-chairwoman Donna Langley. Problems arose when the budget for the film rose from its initial $175 million to a staggering $225 million, and as I’ve extensively covered here on Movie Buzzers over the last several months, studios are trying to cut costs on $200 million+ films (with Lone Ranger being briefly put on hold and adaptations of Paradise Lost and Stephen King’s Dark Tower being canceled outright). It also follows on the heels of Paramount’s delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation after several significant problems with that film’s cut. One of the problems the studio seemed to have was leaving Reeves out of the film’s climatic battle scene, a problem resolved with re-shoots earlier this month in London (also added were a love scene and, well, more Reeves). According to the story, an anonymous source involved with the production called it a “nightmare.”
Frankly, I’m surprised Rinsch was hired to do a film of this magnitude as his first feature — he’s best known for (you guessed it) commercials. The story suggests that Rinsch essentially cracked under the pressure of making such a big leap, though as Slashfilm‘s report points out we’re only hearing one side of the story. But regardless, this doesn’t necessarily mean the film is doomed to suck, as there was reportedly some squabbling between director Pete Travis, writer Alex Garland, and the producers of Dredd, and that film seemed to turn out for the better (check out Graham’s review here!) So this could very well lead to a better film if Rinsch really wasn’t ready for it.
Well, on the bright side Universal now has plenty of time to work on it!
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