Exhibitor Relations has just revealed Warner Bros. has finally officially dated Clint Eastwood‘s latest Oscar effort, J. Edgar, for a November 9 limited bow with a wide expansion two days later on November 11.
The biopic of controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and was written by Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk. Armie Hammer, Judi Dench, Ed Westwick, Josh Lucas, Naomi Watts, Stephen Root, Jeffrey Donovan and Miles Fisher co-star.
J. Edgar is currently set to avoid the festival circuit altogether though I still wouldn’t be surprised if it was added to the Toronto slate late as Hereafter was last year. As for that November release, also opening on the 11th are Relativity’s Immortals, Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, the bully documentary The Bully Project and Darren Bousman’s limited release thriller 11-11-11. In other words, it’s a solid date for the feature with little-to-no adult-based competition releasing wide.
Exhibitor also reports Stephen Daldry’s sure-to-be Oscar contender Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close will debut in limited release on Christmas Day, and go wide January 20, 2012. The September 11th-themed picture stars Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright.
Next, Warner Bros. has moved Journey 2: The Mysterious Island from January 27, 2012 to February 10. The film is the sequel to the 2008 feature with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson standing in for Brendan Fraser and starring alongside Josh Hutcherson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Kristin Davis. Johnson will play the boyfriend of Hutcherson’s mom, who Hutcherson is forced to bring on a trip to a mythical and monstrous island to find his missing grandfather.
Finally, we learn Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, will be released on November 21, 2012. The Warner Bros. sci-fi centers on the sole surviving human member of a space mission who is desperately trying to return home to Earth and her daughter. The positioning of this one gives good reason to believe the studio may see it as a strong Oscar contender.
