At Venice, is ‘Contagion’ following ‘The Town’s’ awards playbook?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When Warner Bros. Pictures premieres Steven Soderbergh’s globe-trotting virus drama ‘Contagion’ Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, it will be launching a campaign for a movie that shares many attributes with the studio’s hit from fall 2010: Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town,’ which also made its debut at the starry European fest.

Despite very different subject matters, ‘The Town’ (starring Affleck and Jeremy Renner) and ‘Contagion’ are both accessible dramas with strong ensemble casts. Plus, ‘Contagion’ (which stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet, among others) also boasts that critical quality of certain fall releases: strong commercial appeal mixed with potential awards support.

Warner Bros. worldwide president of marketing Sue Kroll sees the similarities between the two films.

“They are similar in that they both have popular appeal, a great mix of cast and a very accessible subject matter told in a really wonderful, interesting way. They are incredibly well-crafted, well-acted, well-directed films but they can broaden out and may end up reaching a much wider audience,” Kroll says.

‘Contagion’ needs a strong commercial bow before it can be considered an Oscar candidate, and with its stateside opening set for Sept. 9, Venice serves as a strategic launching pad worldwide for the movie. ‘The Town’ opened in the U.S. last Sept. 17 and grossed $154 million worldwide, and Warner Bros. ran a concerted Oscar campaign for the film. The picture missed the cut for the 10 best picture nominees, but Renner was nominated in the best supporting actor category.

‘Contagion’ has a chance for even greater box office success, considering the film features a much larger geographic scope and a cast with more international stars, including Marion Cotillard, Jude Law and Chin Han.

Plus, who doesn’t love a good pandemic?

RELATED:

Venice Film Festival: Must-see films

Photos: Scene at the 2011 Venice Film Festival

Matt Damon: Steven Soderbergh really does plan to retire from film

-- Nicole Sperling