What, no Libertine?

Late last year, The Weinstein Company released The Libertine, Lawrence Dunmore's long-awaited, unrated, Johnny Depp-starring staging of the wine-soaked life and syphillis-stoked death of the Earl of Rochester, for one week for academy consideration. The plan, according to a Weinstein rep that we spoke to in November, was to then put the film back in theaters in January. But its initial re-release date was yesterday, and, needless to say, it's hardly playing at a theater near you. Coming Soon still has The Libertine listed as a January TBA release, but there's not a hint of a release date on the film's official site. I couldn't get anyone on the phone at Weinstein yesterday, but it seems pretty clear what's going on here: Depp has thus far failed to earn any significant nominations, and the film made not a single notable critic's list, and so the distributor assumes there's no financial incentive to give it a wide release. Do you think this is valid? It's not a great picture, but it is worth seeing, and one would imagine that Depp could draw a reasonable audience to anything. Johnny Depp superfans, rise up in revolt!