Will Smith's 'Emancipation' Pushed From 2022 To 2023 By Apple

As actor Will Smith is still dealing with the professional fallout from slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars, another upcoming film is seeing some hiccups. His next film, “Emancipation,” an action drama about a runaway slave directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day“), won’t be released this year as planned.

It was revealed by Variety over the weekend that “Emancipation” would be getting a release date bump, moving from 2022 to sometime in 2023. Although it’s unclear when in that time frame it will drop, putting some distance between the film’s release and the media circus surrounding the slap might be in the best interest of Apple Original Films as there had been some hope it could become an awards contender.

READ MORE: Will Smith Banned From Oscars Ceremonies For 10 Years

In the movie, Smith plays a runaway slave who forges through the swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.

“Emancipation” was penned by Bill Collage (“Exodus: Gods & Kings“) and has Emmy contender Ben Foster (“The Survivor”) in a key role alongside Smith. Other cast members in the pic include Mustafa Shakir (“Luke Cage“), Steven Ogg (“Westworld“), and Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight“).

The project is interesting to many people because Smith famously turned down Quentin Tarantino‘s “Django Unchained.” The titular role went to Jamie Foxx and the film led Christoph Waltz to land his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar statue.

This delay comes after news that Smith’s action films “Fast & Loose” and “Bad Boys 4” were being paused by their respective studios. Netflix had also stopped development on “Bright 2 but it had issues even before the pandemic and the Oscars as creator/screenwriter Max Landis exited over misconduct allegations. The two aforementioned action films didn’t have directors attached at the time of their updates which could mean they’ll eventually get made once the heat on Smith cools down a little.