ThinkFilm is rolling the dice with its biggest-ever release while Sony Pictures Classics has Oscar hopes as Norman Jewison’s The Statement opened in theaters on Dec. 12.

The suspense drama, the Toronto-born director/producer’s 24th feature, stars Michael Caine as a Frenchman with a past of abetting Nazis who finds himself on the run from a mysterious assassin. The film, with a reported budget of $27 million, is a copro between Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films, France’s Odessa Films and the U.K.’s Company Pictures. ThinkFilm, of which Lantos acquired a 50% stake this year, distributes in Canada, while Sony Classics has U.S. rights.

The Statement, based on the novel by the late Irish-Canadian author Brian Moore, opened simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles and in an exclusive engagement in Toronto. On Christmas Day, it will open wider in Toronto and will add exclusive runs in Montreal and Vancouver before expanding to all key Canadian markets on Jan. 16. ThinkFilm expects the film will play on 70 domestic screens or more. A source at the distributor says the film not only represents ThinkFilm’s biggest release to date, but also its largest P&A campaign.

Meanwhile, the film is being offered up amidst other Oscar hopefuls in a year with a seemingly wide-open field. With a qualifying release deadline of Dec. 31, competition includes The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Last Samurai, Big Fish, Girl with a Pearl Earring, House of Sand and Fog, Cold Mountain and The Company.

While some local press have deemed The Statement’s Oscar hopes ‘a long shot,’ its distributors have every reason to believe they are in the running.

First, there are the film’s serious themes. Second, there is the creative team’s track record. The 77-year-old Jewison’s In the Heat of Night won best picture in 1968 and he was presented the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999, but he has never won best director. He has said The Statement, his first Canuck copro, is his best film to date. Meanwhile, British screenwriter Ronald Harwood took home the best adaptation hardware last year for The Pianist.

And then there is the 70-year-old Caine, who has not only won twice for best supporting actor (1987 for Hannah and Her Sisters and 2000 for The Cider House Rules), but was nominated last year for his lead work in The Quiet American. His surprise nom turned a US$30-million indie film headed to release oblivion into a minor art-house hit with more than US$23.5 million in worldwide box office. Plus, Caine may impress Academy voters in playing an uncharacteristically unsympathetic role in The Statement.

At a recent Toronto press conference, Caine was not holding out much hope, however. When asked about Oscar expectations, he blurted, ‘No Academy Awards, because there are no screeners!’ in reference to the ban imposed by the Motion Picture Association of America on studios and distributors from sending movie tapes or DVDs to Academy voters, ostensibly to combat piracy.

The indies stood to lose more than the studios by this rule, since they have a harder time getting their productions to movie screens – and thus Academy voters. But a court ruling that found the ban represented anti-competitive behavior has since lifted it. Following the decision, distributors including Sony Classics have reportedly been scrambling to send out tapes. The distributor also took out a full-page ad in Variety promoting Caine’s performance for award consideration, along with costar Charlotte Rampling’s in the supporting actress category. Calls to Sony Classics to get details on the distrib’s marketing plans were not returned.

Meanwhile, producer Lantos – an executive producer on 1998 double nominee The Sweet Hereafter – was downplaying all the Oscar talk, despite the film’s timely release.

‘There are no expectations,’ he said. ‘It’s being released at this time because it’s a good time of the year for a serious movie to be in theaters… [But] I think that if something like that were to happen, we would probably not give it back.’

Despite Lantos’ professed cautiousness, local print ads for the film use the term ‘Academy Award’ three times, ‘Golden Globe’ once, and quote reviews that proclaim Caine and the film as ‘Oscar worthy.’

The Statement could be part of a strong Canadian contingent at the 2004 Oscars. Denys Arcand’s acclaimed The Barbarian Invasions is a prime contender for a best foreign film nom, while The Belleville Triplets, a France/Belgium/Canada copro, is one of several films that has qualified for a best animated feature Oscar nom.

Oscar nominee voting takes place between Jan. 2 and 17, with announcements made Jan. 27.

-www.thinkfilmcompany.com

-www.sonyclassics.com

-www.serendipitypoint.com