Possibly, the movie industry is testing the waters to see who goes to see a movie with the non-major (ie: Tony, Chris, Carmella) characters of the Sopranos to see if they can make a movie with the idea of not including Tony.
I doubt that's their reasoning. Those actors have appeared in like a dozen films together. They're typecasting personified. THE SOPRANOS will remain the high point of all their careers.
I agree. The Sopranos will be the high point of Gandolfini's career as well. Also, a movie without Tony would never be a big hit at the box office. Not saying that it wouldnt be a good movie, just that it wouldnt earn that much dough.
