I’ve been curious about Stretch, an upcoming action comedy about a limo driver (Patrick Wilson) written and directed by Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The Grey) and produced by Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones), which was scheduled for a theatrical release on March 21. I’ve had to remain curious because there has been hardly any advanced marketing materials — no posters, no trailers, nothing. Despite reportedly starring Chris Pine, Jessica Alba, Brooklyn Decker, Ray Liotta, James Badge Dale, Ed Helms and David freaking Hasselhoff, there’s a total lack of information about this movie. It’s been like a giant mystery sport on Universal’s 2014 release schedule. In other words, something odd was going on.
However, last night’s report regarding Stretch by The Hollywood Reporter raises far more questions than it answers. Universal has decided not to release the film theatrically despite its low $5 million price tag. Universal gave Blum the option to shop it to other distributors, but it seems like there were no takers. Instead, Universal can now essentially do whatever it wants with the movie, whether that means going direct-to-DVD with it, going direct to video-on-demand, or doing a limited theatrical release with some combination of home media release. Carnahan has since gone on Twitter to suggest that there is more to the story, calling The Hollywood Reporter article “idiotic” and claiming that the movie will be seen in theaters.
Does the lackluster box office of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit have something to do with it? Outside of the Star Trek movies, Chris Pine has yet to prove that he can carry a movie to box office success — something that was confirmed with Shadow Recruit‘s flat opening weekend at the box office. Lead Patrick Wilson isn’t known for carrying films either, though he’s certainly been part of the success of other successful low-budge films like the Blum production Insidious: Chapter 2. However, March 21 seems like a heavy one at the box office with Bad Words, Divergent, and Muppets Most Wanted opening, and a few popular films released earlier in March (like Veronica Mars) likely continuing to take sizable chunks of the box office that weekend. In other words, Universal didn’t think Stretch could compete, despite the low budget.
Still, I’m surprised Universal didn’t move the film to another weekend later in the year instead of outright canceling its theatrical release (there are a few weekends in April that seem light on competition). So as I said, there’s more to this story that we haven’t heard yet. We’ll keep you posted, of course, but let us know your theories in the comments!
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