Pierce Bronson's latest role sees the former James Bond actor tackle King Louis XIV in The King's Daughter, set to release in theaters on January 21 after an unusually long delay. The film is based on the Vonda N. McIntyre novel The Moon and The Sun, where King Louis XIV of France embarks on an adventure for immortality. His quest leads him to a mermaid, who can provide him with the life force he seeks. Louis' conviction becomes muddled, however, when his illegitimate daughter, Marie-Josèphe, becomes close with the mythical creature. Along with Bronson, the film also features Kaya Scodelario as Marie-Josèphe, Benjamin Walker as Yves De La Croix, Rachel Griffiths as Abbess, Bingbing Fan as the Mermaid, William Hurt as Pere La Chaise, and the incomparable Julie Andrews as the film's Narrator.
A new trailer was revealed for the film in December 2021, but it seemed nobody had ever heard of it at the time. That's because filming for the project was actually finished in 2014, and it was set to release the following year. Just weeks before its premiere date, The King's Daughter was delayed due to issues with the film's water-based visual effects. Responsibility for the film's distribution was traded around multiple times before Gravitas Ventures finally stepped in to secure the rights. It took about 7 years, but the film is now officially slated to release on January 21, 2022.
Recent Covid delays have had a major impact on the film industry, and continue to push back many projects' release dates. Marvel's Morbius has recently been delayed, as well as John Wick 4 which has been moved to Spring 2023. While these recent delays are no joke, they are relatively minor compared to what The King's Daughter has had to endure. With highly regarded source-material, a significant amount of financial investment, and years of production work, there is a lot riding on the new (or old?) film.
Delays are occasionally due to filmmakers, for better or for worse, trying to perfect their work. This could be the case with The King's Daughter, which was directed by Sean McNamara and written by the team of Barry Berman and James Schamus. The book it's based on, The Moon and The Sun, is critically acclaimed, even beating out Game of Thrones for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1997. Scrutiny over its big-screen debut, as is common with book adaptions, will definitely be heard in the coming months.
Additionally, the Chinese production company Kylin Films reportedly invested half of the movie's $40.5 million dollar budget. At the time, that was their biggest contribution to a non-studio movie produced outside of China. With the production given access to the Palace of Versailles for filming, expectations were high from investors and audience alike. After such a long period of delay, those who put so much money into the project are most likely going to want a hefty return.
It usually isn't a good sign when a project is delayed a few months—although the pandemic has somewhat changed public perception on this—let alone a few years. New Mutants, for example, had infamous delays and received a poor reception. But almost a decade's worth of post-production is pretty much unheard of. That being said, Paul Currie, who is a producer for the film, has expressed his confidence in the film. He claims that the movie will be "somewhere between Twilight and Alice in Wonderland". Whatever the final result may be for The King's Daughter, it was certainly a historic undertaking just to get it released, making modern pandemic-related delays look incredibly brief by comparison.