Hotel Mumbai | March 22nd, 2019 | Bleecker Street | starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer

[SLAM!]

 

 

This film's trailer came out a while ago, but I don't remember anyone making a thread for the film, so I figured now would be a fine time to make one.

 

Hotel Mumbai is a true story and a "White-Knuckle Thriller" rolled into one; it is about a terrorist attack in the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, and the struggle to keep everyone safe.

 

Here's why I made this: studios kept adding and adding to the weekend of March 22nd until there were six wide releases listed for release: Five Feet Apart, Greyhound, Hotel Mumbai (this thread's film), The Informer, Us, and Where'd You Go Bernadette?.

 

But Bleecker Street didn't move this film. They didn't need to. Lionsgate moved Five Feet Apart by placing it in a prime counter-programming slot one week earlier, with Wonder Park as its only competition. Annapurna pushed Where'd You Go Bernadette? all the way to August. And Sony's Greyhound, which hasn't even received any trailers yet, has been sent all the way to sometime in 2020.

 

What I'm saying is this: even in a situation where they're still competing directly with Jordan Peele's sophomore horror outing, Bleecker Street is nonetheless extraordinarily fortunate. The only other film on the weekend is Aviron's The Informer, which doesn't seem to have its own identity as a film. I think Hotel Mumbai actually has more of an identity as a film--people, more or less, know what they're getting with this.

 

So I don't think this'll play like Beirut, a film Bleecker Street released last Spring to little fanfare. I think this film can play somewhere in-between a film like 12 Strong or 13 Hours. This is the exact kind of film that would receive commercial advertisement on channels like Fox News, a demographic that must never be underestimated.

 

So I think this film's got potential for sure. There's definitely nothing else like it in the March 2019 slate thus far.

 

But enough of me ranting. Let the discussion commence!

Edited January 26, 2019 by Slambros

[JB33]

It looks good. Depending on how wide it goes, I'm hoping I'll get the chance to see it.

[SLAM!]

Another stroke of good fortune:

 

Aviron has moved The Informer, their bland-looking crime drama, down to August. This means that Hotel Mumbai now only has to compete with Us. That horror film is certain to drive a lot of traffic to the theater, and Hotel Mumbai is now the only film offering direct counter-programming.