After week after week of floundering horror movies, Shutter Island might very well have also underperformed. And this being a star studded Scorsese film, the budget is probably 80 million or so. With a much improved trailer ( http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/shutterisland/ ) and not having to spend money on FYC ads I think that Paramount made themselves a lot of dough.

Good call Paramount!

Not at all.

Zombieland didn't underperform and Scorsese has a drawing name of his own, going far outside the horror genre. It might have gotten awards buzz as well, who knows.

In February it is at risk of becoming a Zodiac...

Zodiac was always traveling under radar among mainstream audiences.

Shutter Island has DiCaprio and a very mainstream feel. It should create some good interest, good enough for a mid-20's opening. Unfortunately the trailers, even the new one, aren't particularly effective IMHO. The footage itself looks really good, thought.

It doesn't really look like a kind of film that would create any awards buzz, so I don't think it would have benefited from being released near the end of the year.

It will perform better than Zodiac, mind you, but I think that with the possible awards buzz it'd have performed even better than it will now.

There will never be any risk of it performing like Zodiac. It will do well no matter when it's released I think. 80 Million is almost guaranteed.

What would have the buzz been thought? The only award buzz that seems to matter to moviegoers seems to be best picture and acting noms. Shutter Island doesn't seem that strong on either front, awards-wise. It looks like a high-octane, stylistically overblown mainstream thriller. That sounds good entertainment-wise, but not so good awards-wise.

I'm not saying that the film would have definitely failed to get major awards buzz, but despite the pedigree of the director and actors, it doesn't look or feel like an awards contender except maybe on technical fronts, none of which makes any difference at the B.O.

The previous Scorcese / DiCaprio collobarations were much more award-friendly in subject and execution, IMHO.

Exactly the same thing was said about The Departed, hehe.

In advance Departed looked like a more "important" movie, at least to me. It looked and felt gritty and realistic, with a stellar ensemble cast.

Shutter Island looks like a conventional, glossy mainstream thriller. Scorcese is in his Cape Fear mode. That one did get two major acting noms, thought, so maybe Shutter Island could have gotten buzz on that front.

Of course at this point my impressions are entirely based on the two trailers, neither of which are particularly well done.

Problem is that with that release date we probably will never find out.

Actually, in the end I don't think the release date move will hurt it either. The trailer was in front of Zombieland today, I was really impressed on how the trailer was on the big screen. Should do good business and awareness should be pretty high.

Best film of 2007

Regarding this thread, I agree - looks like Shutter Island may end up better off after the release date change. It probably would have done a solid $60m or so in the current doldrems. $90m+ is possible with its new date.

The demand for Scorcese and Di Caprio is high right now, neither did big mainstream movies since The Departed, and they're collaborations are bigger than the last and now they go into the easiest marketable genre. I could see this making over 47 million opening and 130-150 close