Will Weinstein Drop Osama Film to Boost Obama's Re-Election Odds?

Harvey Weinstein may have a second October Surprise up his sleeve to help the flailing Obama administration earn a second term.

Weinstein’s “Butter” feature, a not so thinly veiled attack on the Tea Party, is set to bow before November’s presidential election. But now, one of Hollywood’s biggest Obama boosters may be plotting to drop a second film into the early Fall schedule, one celebrating the president’s biggest accomplishment – the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Deadline.com reports Weinstein is in heated negotiations to buy “Code Name: Geronimo,” a film detailing the bin Laden hunt. 

It’s the second feature planned around the Navy SEALs successful mission to take out the terrorist mastermind. The first, director Kathryn Bigelow’s unnamed Osama project, was supposed to hit theaters before election day as well until enough people complained about the timing – and the suggestion that the filmmakers received classified information from a White House eager to see this story play out before the votes get tallied.

It’s hard to imagine Weinstein not depositing “Geronimo” onto the film schedule before Election Day should the acquisition process go forth. Doing so will beat Bigelow’s project to the punch, a fair argument in the movie business. But it’s also a chance for Weinstein to do more for Obama than simply write checks. The film will re-start the conversation about Obama’s “gutsy call,” letting biased press outlets ignore inconvenient details dug up by new media outlets.

For Weinstein, that’s a win-win proposition.