TIFF '08: "Che" Gets Picked Up By Magnolia (UPDATED!!! NOT REALLY!)

One of the hits at this year's Cannes Film Festival was "Che," the 4-hour $60 million dollar epic starring Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara. It earned him the best actor award there. The New York Post has written that "Che" has been bought by Magnolia. Most people know that Magnolia isn't the biggest movie distributor ever, and usually their films are released into at the most 100 theaters at a time, so chances are that unless if "Che" is up for many nominations come Oscar time, it won't be playing anywhere but L.A. or New York. According to the NYP, the announcement is premature, but another insider is saying that they are already booking theaters (more than likely NONE in New Jersey). This actually makes me wonder what they're going to do with the film. It is pretty damn hard to market a film that is more than three hours long unless if you're Peter Jackson. Since it is a foreign film, I'm beginning to wonder if they are going to release the film in two separate parts ("Kill Bill," anyone?) as "The Argentine" and "Guerilla." We still have a while that we will find out about this, but I'm looking forward to see more response to this film as more reviews come pouring in from the festival.

UPDATED!!!: Cinematical reports that Magnolia DOES NOT have the rights to "Che," but rather IFC Films does. This is somewhat good news because Magnolia was planning on splitting the film in two. IFC is planning on giving the film (notice how I said FILM) a one week release in both New York and L.A. in order to qualify for the Oscars, then in January once the buzz gets bigger, they will be releasing "Che" into a few more select theaters and releasing it onto On Demand in their IFC in Theaters section. I really wish that more film companies did stuff like this. We'll have a release date for you when it is announced.