Sony Pictures seems to think it has a major awards contender in David Ayer’s Brad Pitt-led WWII action-drama Fury, so it’s taking great care to ensure that the film’s release date gives it enough time to win over voters. As such, the studio bumped Fury up from its previous November 14th date to October 17th.
This is going to be one packed season, so perhaps getting Fury out ahead of all the major contenders in November and December will turn out to be a smart move on Sony’s part. Now, the film is sharing a date with the limited release of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, a very different project that is also building awards buzz.
Particularly because Fury doesn’t appearing to be arriving on the festival circuit before opening wide, the date shift makes a lot of sense. It will need to build up some momentum going into December, and commercial success is a big part of that. The November date had Fury between box office juggernauts Interstellar and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, but this new date should give it free reign of the multiplex for a couple of weeks (unless Nicholas Sparks romance The Best of Me opens really big, a disconcertingly real possibility).
Check out the official synopsis for Fury below:
FURY is set at the very end of World War II, in April 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
Trailers so far have highlighted Pitt’s performance as the one most likely to wrangle an Oscar nom, but co-stars Logan Lerman and Michael Peña could also stand a chance if their performances are as potent as some of those who have already seen the film report.
Fury will now open October 17th. Will you be lining up to see it?
Published: Aug 13, 2014 09:31 am