Why Paramount Waited Two Years to Release ‘Drunk Wedding’

This story first appeared in the May 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

When Drunk Wedding opens May 22, it will end a two-year period during which the comedy sat on the shelf. Insiders say it was caught in a tug-of-war at Paramount.

Then-film group president Adam Goodman was adamant that the $105,000 pic (about a destination wedding gone wrong) get a wide release, but the marketing division was reluctant to open a micro-comedy so big. The stalemate ended in February when Goodman was pushed out.

That was good news for the Nick Weiss-directed Wedding, which debuts on only 16 screens. Less clear is what will happen with Insurge, a label Paramount launched in 2011 to make 10 microbudget movies for $1 million each. Insurge lost its president, Amy Powell, in March and hasn’t made a full 10 movies (though it has done bigger films). Paramount insists the label remains active, if not exactly, ahem, insurgent.