All the King's Men

All the King's Men
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One look at the film All the King's Men and it is clear it was made for Oscar glory. Its writer / director, its cast, its source material... they all suggest the film would be a lock to earn several Oscar nominations and maybe even a few wins. So why is it being released in September?

The Oscar Calendar

As you can see from the table below, September is not the best month to release an award-worthy film. Of the 21 films to win a major award in the last four years, only two of them opened in September, Capote and Lost in Translation. And in both cases, the movies were limited releases that didn't go wide until later - much later in the case of Capote. It seems clear: if you want an Oscar win, you open the movie late in the year. Very late. As late as you can without technically opening the next year. This explains why All The King's Men was originally set to open last year on December 16th, but with its move to this September, its potential has to be reexamined.

Release Dates for Major Oscar Winners 2003-2006

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	March 19	Best Original Screenplay
Crash	May 6	Best Picture, Original Screenplay
The Constant Gardner	August 31	Best Supporting Actress
Lost in Translation	September 12	Best Original Screenplay
Capote	September 30	Best Actor
Mystic River	October 8	Best Actor, Supporting Actor
Sideways	October 22	Best Adapted Screenplay
Ray	October 29	Best Actor
Walk the Line	November 18	Best Actress
Talk to Her	November 22	Best Original Screenplay
Syriana	November 23	Best Supporting Actor
Adaptation	December 6	Best Supporting Actor
Brokeback Mountain	December 9	Best Directing, Adapted Screenplay
Million Dollar Baby	December 15	Best Picture, Directing, Lead Actress, Supp. Actor
The Aviator	December 17	Best Supporting Actress
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	December 17	Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay
Monster	December 24	Best Actress
Cold Mountain	December 25	Best Supporting Actress
Chicago	December 27	Best Picture, Supporting Actress
The Pianist	December 27	Best Actor, Directing, Adapted Screenplay
The Hours	December 27	Best Actress

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The Movie Business Makes for Strange Bed Fellows

When most people think of September releases, they don't think Oscar, they think Razzie, especially when the film was moved from a prime release date to the dead lands of September.

Selection of Movies Whose Releases Were Moved to September

Movie	1st weekend	US Gross	Previous Release Month(s)
Serenity	$10,086,680	$25,335,935	April
Into the Blue	$7,057,854	$18,472,363	August, July
Roll Bounce	$7,570,366	$17,378,977	July
Lord of War	$9,390,144	$24,127,895	October
Cry Wolf	$4,428,209	$10,042,266	August
Underclassman	$5,654,777	$2,525,364	January, August
Sound of Thunder	$917,398	$1,891,821	March
The Order	$4,438,899	$7,659,747	October (previous year)
Matchstick Men	$13,087,307	$36,873,198	August
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow	$15,580,278	$37,760,080	May, June
Cold Creek Manor	$8,190,574	$21,384,035	October
Duplex	$4,617,128	$9,652,000	August (previous year)

Looking at that list, there's not a hit in the bunch; the biggest box office earner was Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with $37.76 million, but that's compared to a production budget of $70 million. Other, smaller films, like Roll Bounce and Cry_Wolf earned enough to show a profit while Serenity's boost to the Firefly DVD covered a good chunk of the production budget before the film was even released.

But for the most part, they were all bombs. And while a couple did earn good or even great reviews, most were critical as well as box office flops. This is the company in which All The King's Men finds itself.

The film does have more than a few things going for it though, including its director, Steven Zaillian. While Zaillian has only directed two previous films, they were both critically acclaimed. In spite of that, he is known more for his writing, having penned the scripts for both action films like Clear and Present Danger and Mission: Impossible and serious dramas like the aforementioned Searching for Bobby Fisher. It is this field that he has earned the most success, scoring three Oscar nominations, including a win for Schindler's List.

Steven Zaillian's Movie Credits

Movie	Creative Role	US Box Office	Oscar Performance
The Interpreter	Writer	$72,515,360	-
Gangs of New York	Writer	$77,730,500	10 nominations - 0 wins
Hannibal	Writer	$165,091,986	-
A Civil Action	Writer, Director	$56,709,981	2 nominations - 0 wins
Mission: Impossible	Writer	$180,981,886	-
Clear and Present Danger	Writer	$122,012,656	2 nominations - 0 wins
Schindler's List	Writer	$96,067,179	12 nominations - 7 wins
Search for Bobby Fischer	Writer, Director	$7,266,383	1 nomination - 0 wins
Jack the Bear	Writer	$4,796,751	-
Awakenings	Writer	$51,636,504	3 nominations - 0 wins
The Falcon and the Snowman	Writer	$17,130,087	-

The movie's cast combines for an amazing total of 15 Oscar nominations, although strangely they have only won twice between them.

Oscar Performance for Cast of All the King's Men

Actor	Movies	Average Opening	Average Gross Per Movie	Total Box Office Gross	Oscar Noms.	Oscar Wins
Sean Penn	35	$2,529,135	$17,407,058	$609,247,022	4	1
Jude Law	21	$8,623,061	$36,811,997	$773,051,941	2	0
Kate Winslet	15	$3,611,095	$53,984,585	$809,768,782	4	0
Patricia Clarkson	19	$3,707,998	$22,576,801	$428,959,223	1	0
Anthony Hopkins	41	$15,149,534	$40,062,677	$1,642,569,754	4	1

Additionally, both James Gandolfini and Kathy Baker are better known for their TV work and have a combined 6 Emmy wins and 12 nominations between them.

When considering all the Emmys, Oscars and other major awards the creative team has won, this film seems built to carry home the hardware. And when it was scheduled for a December 16th release last year, it seemed certain the film would score at least one Oscar nomination, perhaps several for writing, directing, and acting. Now, that seems unlikely.