ShoWest to Get Quick Glimpse of Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

The first footage of Stanley Kubrick’s final--and extremely hush-hush--film, “Eyes Wide Shut,” will be shown Wednesday when Warner Bros. unveils its 1999 product reel at the exhibitors’ convention ShoWest in Las Vegas, studio executives said Monday. About 90 seconds of the film will be shown.

After more than two years in production, the sexual thriller starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman will debut on July 16 on 2,500 to 3,000 screens in the U.S., followed by a European release in September. It is the master director’s first film since 1987’s “Full Metal Jacket.”

Studio executives who saw a finished version of “Eyes” last week--along with Cruise and Kidman--said the film is complete and in good shape. Kubrick, who died early Sunday morning at his home in England at the age of 70, had just shipped the trailer footage to Warner Bros. The studio received it Sunday shortly after learning of his death.

Terry Semel, co-head of Warner Bros., and other studio executives said they were pleased with the film, which reportedly runs slightly over two hours and 15 minutes. As to speculation that the envelope-pushing Kubrick had shot an NC-17-rated movie, Semel said he was confident that the finished product would get an R rating. The film has not been officially rated by the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

“There is some nudity in the film but nothing to that extent,” Semel said about the possibility of an NC-17 rating. “It was in Stanley’s contract to deliver an R, and he did.”

Warner Bros. has released every Kubrick film since 1972’s “A Clockwork Orange.” Barry Reardon, Warner’s head of distribution, said that Kubrick controlled every aspect of his film, from the trailers and print ads to all the marketing and distribution decisions.

And Semel noted that the marketing for all of Kubrick’s films was paid for out of his production budget, allowing him to dictate every aspect, down to the suitability of theaters playing his films.

No decision has been made as to when “Eyes” will be screened for the press, according to a Warner Bros. spokesperson.

Judith I. Brennan contributed to this story.