What exactly is going on with James Gray’s “Ad Astra”?
I kept insisting last year that, contrary to rumors, 20th Century Fox’s sci-fi epic would not receive an Academy-qualifying release in December. No chance. Gray's films are not Oscar-bait. He's a lone-wolf who goes by his own creative juices. So, of course, it was later announced that Gray's “epic science fiction thriller” would not be released in its original January 11th release date and would be pushed to a May 24th, 2019 slot. Then, a Cannes premiere was never announced. Also, the film had yet to have any promotional material tied to its name (especially a trailer) which, unsurprisingly, now comes with the news that its release has been delayed even further.
From what I’ve heard, the post-production team was way behind on the FX work for the film, but that could, of course, just be an excuse for what could inevitably be a trainwreck waiting to happen.
It is unusual to see Disney tagged on such a risky project, but here we are, the Fox/Disney merger has happened, and the Brad Pitt/Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi is now set to be released in the fall. At least, that’s what a Plan B producer told IndieWire recently. In fact, this same producer claims that they have’t actually been told exactly when the film would land in theaters. The article further adds “at this point, James Gray is editing with the fall festivals in mind.”
Last we heard from Gray was his 2017 film "The Lost City of Z," a beautiful, surreal and ambitious project which had some meandering parts but the overall impact was stunningly surreal, mainly due to the incredible jungle sequences.