Be informed on INFORMANT! tix
In less than two weeks, the incredible story of former Archer Daniels Midland executive and delusional whistle-blower Mark Whitacre will hit the big screen in THE INFORMANT!, directed by prolific maverick Steven Soderbergh (CHE, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE) and adapted by Scott Z. Burns (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM) from the Kurt Eichenwald book. This also means that in less than two weeks, hordes of citizens from Decatur and its outlying communities will be packing the Avon Theater in the Soy Capital’s downtown to see the movie shot in their neck of the woods in late spring 2008. Folks not living in Macon County who want to get a crack at THE INFORMANT! more sooner than later may need to plan ahead and be willing to log some travel miles…
It seems the Avon secured a print for the movie’s September 18 national release date, three full weeks before Warner Bros. expands the number of screens playing THE INFORMANT! on October 9. This not only means that Skip Huston and his crew nabbed a primo Decatur exclusive – bully for them! – but that other cities not named Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago such as Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, and Springfield might have to wait nearly a month before THE INFORMANT! appears at their own cinemas.
Will THE INFORMANT! be worth a road trip? Keep an eye on your favorite movie news Web sites this week as the reviews start rolling in from the Venice Film Festival, where the film had its world premiere roughly 24 hours ago, and the Toronto International Film Festival, which will offer its North American premiere on September 11. C-U Blogfidential found coverage on Variety earlier today, including a positive Todd McCarthy review and Soderbergh comments from Venice, and has noticed a lot of blogosphere buzz about this movie dating back to the beginning of summer.
Should you be intrigued enough to pay the Avon a visit, one caveat – Huston announced in his weekly e-newsletter that INFORMANT! advance tickets will not be sold on-line or over the phone. In other words, one must take one’s chances in arriving without ticket in hand or one must visit the theater soon to purchase advance tickets in person. Huston has confirmed for CUBlog that, as of this writing, only the 7 p.m. show on opening night can be considered “sold out,” but who knows how that status might shift during the next 10 days.
Show times for THE INFORMANT! on opening weekend, September 18-20, will be 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., and 10 p.m. Further questions can be directed to the Avon main office at (217) 422-1776 or the Head Honcho himself at skip [at] theavon [dot] com.
~ Jason Pankoke
p.s. No, we didn’t forget about Matt Damon. With the following bright-and-bold one-sheet posted all over the place, how could we forget?
p.s.2 It looks like this engagement is not as exclusive as it once seemed, according to an August 18 report by the Decatur (IL) Herald-Review and an August 28 post by H-R columnist Tim Cain, with the latter quoting data from FilmJerk.com that states THE INFORMANT! will now open on 2,000 screens come September 18. Considering the press it’s been receiving, the apparent change in distribution strategy is not exactly “un-believ-able.”
[Updated 9/9/09, 18:30 p.m. CST]
