Colin Firth, lead actor in “The King’s Speech” opposes the revised version of the film heading to theaters.
By Steven Zeitchik
Los Angeles Times
Colin Firth said he didn’t like it, but a new version of “The King’s Speech” is heading to theaters just the same.
The Weinstein Co. said Thursday morning that it was releasing a tweaked version of the best-picture winner, in which a scene featuring Firth’s Duke of York swearing has been amended not to include the F-word, next weekend, April 1.
The company gave the new theater count as 1,000, which would put it roughly at the current tally of 1,249. The studio also said that the R-rated movie won’t be shown as of next weekend. So essentially Weinstein is subbing out the old print with the new one.
The movie has actually been doing quite well even in its R-rated guise, grossing about $2 million last weekend. The new release is clearly aimed at the glut of spring-breakers available for moviegoing, though it remains to be seen whether adolescents who haven’t already seen the period drama will now be flooding theaters.
The Weinstein Co. is promoting the new cut as a “family film” _ which means that, in the company’s eyes, when it comes out next weekend the story of a 1930s monarch rising up against Nazism will be competing squarely against “Hop.”
