The folks at Paramount used Election Day to lay out some new dates on their slate, including a possible Oscar contender, and a Tom Cruise vehicle that’s going to take on a DC Films tentpole the same weekend.
First up, Alexander Payne‘s long-in-the-works “Downsizing” has been handed a big holiday release date of December 22, 2017. The high concept movie stars Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Sudeikis, and Hong Chau and follows an Omaha man in the not-too-distant future where humans are now able to shrink themselves to 1/8 their size as a means to battle over-consumption and the rapid depletion of earth’s natural resources. He decides to undergo the process himself, and joins others who have done the same. The film will open on a crowded weekend that will also include “Pitch Perfect 3,” “Jumanji,” and “The Six Billion Dollar Man.”
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The studio has also dated an untitled IMAX horror movie for April 28, 2017, where it will face off against the Tom Hanks/Emma Watson flick “The Circle,” and a Jason Blum-produced scare flick at Universal.
In 2018, Ethan Hunt will return to the big screen in “Mission: Impossible 6.” The Tom Cruise movie will boldly open on July 27, 2018, that also happens to be the same weekend Warner Bros. has staked for an untitled DC Films movie. I wonder who will blink first.
The studio is also taking on Disney, dating an untitled event film to open against the live-action “Mulan” on November 2, 2018. And that’s certainly a confident move, and it’ll be interesting to find see what the movie turns out to be. [Deadline]