Outlander Finally Gets A U.S. Theatrical Release Date

Back in August we told you about a funky genre film that was having trouble making it into U.S. theaters. It’s a movie that pits Vikings against aliens. Seriously.

Oh, but wait… it actually looks good (and by “good” I mean enjoy it for what it is, a pure cool concept action/sci-fi film, not an Oscar contender). What’s this little gem called?

Outlander

At the time there was some confusion as the DVD had been made available for pre-order on some website even though the film hadn’t been released yet. On the official Outlander blog the DVD screw up was addressed, but there was still no hint of a release date.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when rumors of a January 23, 2009 release date started surfacing. At first the word was that would be the date for the Canadian release, but now it’s looking like it’s the date we’ll get to see it in the U.S.

The Weinstein Company (which is distributing the film) has set up a page for it on their site, where they announce that as the official release date. Now the question is: How wide of a release will Outlander get? Will it make it onto a decent number of screens or will it be “buried” with no marketing and a sub-100 theater release?

The folks who run the official blog (it’s not clear who exactly that is… the writers? Director?) are worried the film won’t get wide distribution and not many people will have the chance to see it. I’ve heard that it cost $50MM to make and that’s not exactly a low budget film. It’s had a very limited release overseas and has brought in about $2.9 million at the box office (mainly in Spain where it’s been open for two weeks) with very little marketing.

It also has some recognizable names in the cast including James Caviezel, Ron Perlman and John Hurt. For the babe factor there’s Sophia Myles. Outlander was directed by Howard McCain and written by the director and Dirk Blackman. They are also co-writing the screenplay for the upcoming Conan movie and wrote the script for the soon to open Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Here’s the poster:

You can check out two trailers for Outlander here.

Source: io9