Keanu Reeves’ “Passengers” taken off calendar after female lead dropout

PanARMENIAN.Net - Keanu Reeves' space romance Passengers won't hit theaters on April 3, 2015 after all. The independent project is also in the process of finding a new female lead after Rachel McAdams dropped out, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The Weinstein Co. acquired U.S. rights to the movie in one of the biggest deals of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival but pulled Passengers from its release calendar in recent days. Wayfare Films is financing and producing the movie alongside Company Films, the production shingle run by Reeves and Stephen Hamel.

With McAdams' departure and the resulting production delay, The Weinstein Co. withdrew from the project, according to sources. CAA, which packaged the film and is handling domestic rights, will now shop Passengers to other U.S. distributors. Exclusive Media is representing international rights.

Insiders say Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire director Brian Kirk was set to start shooting Passengers in Germany on April 7, but the start date has been pushed back by at least several weeks, if not more.

Passengers, hoping to tap into the same success that Gravity enjoyed, stars Reeves as a colonist aboard a spacecraft carrying 5,000 sleeping passengers to a new world. After accidentally awakening and becoming lonely, he rouses Aurora. Falling in love, they eventually realize it is up to them to save everyone on the journey.

Reese Witherspoon was attached to star in Passengers before McAdams.

Reeves suffered a major setback at the box office last winter with the dismal showing of big-budget samurai epic 47 Ronin. The Universal film, costing $175 million to produce, grossed only $146 million worldwide.