I’ve always said that Netflix could just release a poster for The Irishman featuring standard, boring images of Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino and people would be elated. Slap a “Directed by Martin Scorsese” on there somewhere and — boom! — tickets sold.
And, hey, that’s pretty much exactly what they did.
Yup, that’s a poster for The Irishman, set to debut on Netflix on November 27th after nearly a month in limited theatrical release. You’ve got everything you need in this poster: the names of these stars and Scorsese and the release date. What else is necessary? If these names alone don’t get you revved up then you’re just not a fan of movies.
It’s a damn shame that Netflix and theater chains weren’t able to come to terms to provide The Irishman with a large theatrical release. Like all of Scorsese’s work, this is a movie that will play masterfully on the big screen. Watching it at home will be great, don’t get me wrong, but I just wish everyone had the option to walk into any theater and catch the flick when it debuts in November. Some people will but not many. The movie will be relegated to smaller chains and more independent theaters. I’m sure it’ll do very, very well in those venues but average moviegoers from much of the country will be limited to only watching the film at home. At three hours, I’m afraid a lot of people are going to fall asleep in their beds while they watch this. Not me, Scorsese works better than coffee for me.
The Irishman will be debuting at the New York Film Festival on September 27th so you can expect a lot of reactions then. Get ready.