A Monster Calls Heads to Award Season

Juan Antonio Bayona’s A Monster Calls will now hit theaters December 23

Focus Features has shifted release date plans for A Monster Calls, the new feature film from The Orphanage and The Impossible helmer Juan Antonio Bayona. Instead of debuting on the big screen October 21 as originally planned, A Monster Calls is now shifting into awards season, targeting a limited December 23 release before going wide January 6, 2017. The limited release will consist of a ten-city run with 1,500 screens being targeted for the film’s wide release.

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A visually spectacular drama from the acclaimed director, A Monster Calls is based on the award-winning children’s fantasy novel. The story concerns 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) as he attempts to deal with his mother’s (Felicity Jones) illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales that explore courage, loss, and faith.

The film also features Toby Kebbell (Fantastic Four), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar) and Geraldine Chaplin (The Orphanage). Patrick Ness adapted the screenplay from his own novel of the same name.

The creative team on A Monster Calls also includes production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Academy Award winner for Pan’s Labyrinth, who previously collaborated with the director on The Impossible, costume designer Steven Noble (The Theory of Everything), and cinematographer Óscar Faura, who shot both The Impossible and The Orphanage.

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Although A Monster Calls is the first film to claim that Friday, December 23 date, a trio of films will be opening on Christmas Day that following Sunday. The list includes Sony Pictures Classics‘ Toni Erdmann, TWC-Dimension‘s Gold and 20th Century Fox‘s comedy Why Him? On January 6, A Monster Calls will expand against newly-opening sequels Amityville: The Awakening and Underworld: Blood Wars.