When Warner Brothers pulled Jupiter Ascending from its summer slot less than 7 weeks before its expected July 16 premiere date, they cited the need for more time to finish complex special effects. Skeptics raised eyebrows because that’s what skeptics do. Loyal fans remained loyal because that’s what loyal fans do. The Wachowski siblings proceeded to complete their vision the way they wanted at whatever cost (this time, $190 million), because that’s what the Wachowski siblings do. No matter which story about delay anyone chooses to believe, we can be sure Jupiter Ascending will deliver wildly imaginative visual spectacle and wildly imaginative narrative risks. Most of us wouldn’t want it any other way. If a few months more work has helped improve the shape of the movie as much as the trailer has improved, then the extra time, effort and money looks to have been worth it.We should be grateful filmmakers like the Wachowskis can even exist in the current Hollywood economy — and that gratitude extends in large part to Warner Brothers, for granting Land and Andy this kind of freedom, on this scale, for that amount of money, and for all the other indulgences seeing this movie to its proper completion must have entailed.
