"Che" Will Be Twice As Much Fun/Money

According to Variety Magazine, Steven Soderberg's "Che" will be split into two films while the four hour long version will receive a "road show" release. For those who don't know what the term road show means it was basically a form of distribution for epic movies of the old days. See, back when three to four hour films like "Ben-Hur" and "Around the World In 80 Days" were being made, not all theaters had the surround sound and wide screens to make a mainstream release possible. Therefor these movies would open in select cities and then slowly move to other cities over the next couple of years. And since DVD didn't exist back then (heck, VHS wasn't even on the radar yet) this sort of run around could last a few years.

Now Oscar winner Soderberg, who is known for his experimental films, decided to make a four hour epic on the life of Latin Revolutionary Che Guevera, starring Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro as the the title character. It's a bold undertaking as the cinema hasn't seen a four hour epic released in theaters since Warner Bros. released "Gods and Generals" in 2003 (a major flop, though I blame that on the poor quality of the film and NOT the running time). While this would have been a hard sell to the public I think it could have been a success because people who are interested in this film expressed interest in sitting through a four hour film. By breaking it in two it feels like a cheap way to sell multiple tickets, and I'm not sure how many people are going to buy it.

This could also potentially effect the films Oscar chances (particularly Del Toro, who's an early favorite at a Best Actor nomination), because with two halfs of the film the votes this film receives could be split. Or maybe the Academy members won't vote for either. After all, how do you decide which half of the movie has better direction and/or acting then the other? In fact, chances are the road show release of the full movie is there to try and eliminate this confusion for the voters. Either way I'm less confident in the film now.