http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=14077

"Columbia Pictures' All the King's Men will be released nationally on September 22, 2006, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, Vice Chairman Sony Pictures Entertainment and Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.

Based on Robert Penn Warren's 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King's Men is a classic of American literature that tells the story of an idealistic man of the people who soon becomes corrupted by success and caught between dreams of service and an insatiable lust for power.

With a screenplay written and directed by Zaillian, who received an Academy Award® for his adaptation of Schindler's List, All the King's Men features an all-star cast including Oscar® winner Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson and Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins.

A Columbia Pictures and Phoenix Pictures/VIP3A/VIP 4A Production in Association with Rising Star, All the King's Men was produced by Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Ken Lemberger and Steve Zaillian. The executive producers are Michael Hausman, David Thwaites, James Carville, Todd Phillips, Andreas Schmid, Andreas Grosch and Ryan Kavanaugh.

"Steve Zaillian has delivered a wonderful and provocative motion picture with a timeless story and fantastic performances. We couldn't be more proud of the way 'All the King's Men' turned out. Early fall will be a great time to release this film."

While a uniquely American story, the message of All the King's Men is universal and very relevant today. It uses politics as a framework to delve into the more profound conflicts of human nature -- sin, guilt and redemption. Warren's novel was inspired by the career of Louisiana governor Huey P. Long and had a profound effect on contemporary literature, serving as a model for some of the best-selling political novels of the past half-century."

I don't know how good this is as a gauge of its quality as that seems too early for Oscar bait.

Seems too early.

Yeah, September isn't known as the best month for movies..

How it looks to me is that is the latest they can release it and still have a DVD come out in time for awards season. With no free screeners allowed, a movie being out on DVD in time for the nominations game helps. Optimally they would want to release it in theaters in December but they probably figure that they can't leave it on the shelf too long, and they might have other commitments for december anyway.

the book is widely acclaimed as the seminal epic of american politics... Huey long , TJ, and Patrick Henry are my three fav pols... kudos to any attempt to show politics....

One of america's best quotes comes from RPW:
(loosely) Politics, like sweet corn grows sour when removed from the local field....
.
cheers... radically....