What's up with "The Beaver"?

“The Beaver,” directed by Jodie Foster, stars Gibson as a man who converses with a beaver puppet. No release date was scheduled before recordings of obscenity-laced tirades were made public.

The film isn’t likely to be shown in U.S. theaters anytime soon, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of researcher Hollywood.com’s box-office tracking unit.

“You have to remain in a holding pattern,” Dergarabedian said. “They have some time to think about it. It’s not like they had posters all over town saying, it opens whenever.”

Summit hasn’t made a decision on how it will proceed, said a person with knowledge of the situation. “The Beaver” has been filmed and is getting so-called post-production touches, said the person, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.

Summit executives weren’t available to comment, according to a spokesman. Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, didn’t return messages seeking comment. Foster’s publicist, Jennifer Allen, referred calls to Summit.

Straight to DVD?

Summit may opt to skip theaters and release the movie as a DVD, said Tony Wible, a Philadelphia-based analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. The move would eliminate marketing expenses for a theatrical release, he said.

“There’s a chance they don’t earn out the advertising dollar,” Wible said. “That’s why some of the less popular films, riskier films, don’t go out to theatrical, and I think that’s the case here.”

“Jodie is not available at this time,” her rep said. “She is in post on the movie.”

Despite reports that the film had a release date, Foster’s rep said it “was not yet dated before all of the current news.”

E! Online

Many of Gibson’s allies in Hollywood have remained quiet as the controversy has mushroomed.

On Monday, representatives for Jodie Foster, Gibson’s longtime friend and his director and costar in his new movie “The Beaver,” said that she was in post-production and unable to comment.

Oddly, some American film sales executives appear to take a brighter view of Mr. Gibson’s prospects than their European counterparts, perhaps because he has already been operating outside of conventional studio circles, so has little to fear from banishment. (Summit Entertainment has not decided how or when it will release “The Beaver,” starring Mr. Gibson as a man who walks around with a puppet on his hand and treats it like a living creature. The film, directed by Jodie Foster, is in post production.)

Absent from the announcement was Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, starring Mel Gibson, which TIFF had been considering for inclusion prior to Gibson’s recent outbursts and public shaming.

Handling declined to confirm or deny whether the film might be included in future announcements.

Toronto Star

The Beaver

Rated PG-13 For mature thematic material, some disturbing content, sexuality and language including a drug reference.

Release Date: TBA 2010

While his off-screen antics have been decidedly R-rated lately, Mel Gibson’s latest movie The Beaver received a PG-13 rating for “mature thematic material, some disturbing content, sexuality and language including a drug reference.” Distributor Summit Entertainment has yet to settle on a release date for the Jodie Foster-directed movie, which features Gibson as a man who treats a beaver puppet like a living creature.