“We’re in the Ben Affleck business,” Sue Kroll, president for worldwide marketing and distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, recently told The New York Times. “He needs to be able to do what he needs to do to thrive as an artist. His schedule is clearly a very aggressive one, and we have him very busy.” She’s not joking. In addition to being the studio’s new Batman, a role to be unveiled this weekend in "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice" and to be reprised when "Justice League" starts shooting next month, he’s also starring in the studio’s thriller "The Accountant," which opens this fall. Additionally, Affleck is currently editing his next directorial effort "Live By Night," for which WB is clearly hoping for the same Oscar success as "Argo."
READ MORE: Ranked: The Films Of Ben Affleck
The studio has dated "Live By Night" for an awards season-ready October 20, 2017 release. That’s more or less the same time frame that "Argo" was released in 2012, before going on to earn seven Oscar nominations and winning three, including Best Picture. And at the moment, there is nothing else slated for that weekend.
Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, the story centers on Joe Coughlin (played by Affleck), the son of a cop who finds himself slipping into a life of organized crime. As he climbs the ladder of the underworld, he journeys from Tampa to Cuba, encounters various dames, lowlifes and more in a tale of revenge and redemption. Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Cooper co-star in the film which has already wrapped production, but given Affleck’s schedule, it’s going to take him some time to get it fully locked.
Other movies added to WB’s 2017 slate include: "Fist Fight" starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day and Christina Hendricks on February 17, 2017, "Annabelle 2" for May 19th and an Untitled Event Film for August 11th.
