The journey of Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer from South Korea to the U.S. via the Weinstein Co. is a long story, with many obstacles along the way, but it might have a happy ending -- if you can find it.
According to Deadline, filmmaker Bong and distributor Weinstein have reached a truce: "The truce is basically that the director keeps the length of his action film but instead of a wide release, it will be a platform release with a roll out. I am told the picture is not being dumped."
Thus, the good news is that the U.S. will evidently see the film the way that Bong intended, in the version that has won plaudits from many critics, including our own Pierce Conran. But the promised wide release will not materialize. Traditionally, a platform release means that the film will open first in limited release -- usually just New York and Los Angeles -- then expand to major cities, then expand wide over a period of weeks. If the film does not perform well financially in the opening stages of the platform release, that often limits the subsequent roll out, or at least the marketing and promotional efforts.
Still, I prefer to focus on the positives here, which is that the film will be released full-length, some people will get to see it on the big screen, and everyone will have the opportunity to see it on home video ... eventually.