It was revealed The Revenant as Worldview Entertainment backed out of financing the pic and 20th Century Fox was unwilling to pick up the whole tab. Now Megan Ellison and her Annapurna Pictures has stepped in to help finance the project, which is now set for a December 25 release.
The film finds DiCaprio playing Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapper who is mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead and then robbed. When he survives against all odds, he sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on his betrayers in this captivating and inspiring story based on the Michael Punke novel, “The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.” Tom Hardy and Will Poulter are set to co-star.
Reporting from the Calgary Herald (via The Playlist) says the plan is to shoot for a whopping 80 days, from October 2014 to March 2015 up in British Columbia and Alberta with Inarritu, at least according to last reports, hoping to shoot the film in sequence, which was said would add $7 million to the production budget. The lengthy production schedule suggests Inarritu got his wish.
The Christmas Day 2015 release puts the film in competition with Mission: Impossible 5 and David O. Russell‘s Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, but I would have to assume Revenant will get a limited release (so might Joy) with likely a January 1, 2016 or later wide roll-out following several stops on the fall festival circuit.
Speaking of which, Inarritu’s Birdman will be opening the Venice Film Festival this year with likely stops in both Telluride and Toronto before its October 17 release.
