Lots of questions have been surrounding J.C. Chandor's “All is Lost” follow-up “A Most Violent Year” this season, but we've been telling you to chill out, it's coming, etc. The sound mix has been moving along this month and it's being primed for a big winter bow. Now it has a date: Dec. 31. A platform release in January is expected to follow.
A24 is getting it in right under the wire. I still wouldn't rule out, say, an AFI Fest premiere to get the ball rolling, though. They're going to want to screen the heck out of this thing before all the late drops that are still unfinished – “Unbroken,” “American Sniper,” “Into the Woods,” etc. – come out swinging. I suppose a New York Film Festival spot is possible, but the whole “secret screening” game seemed to hit the skids there last year and if anything, I might watch for “Fury” to play that card, seeing as it opens a week after the fest concludes and major press screenings have been held off until early October as it is.
But that's all speculation. And it's left to be seen, of course, how much “A Most Violent Year” star Oscar Isaac can impact an already staggering Best Actor race. Jessica Chastain, I'm told, is set for a lead push in the film, so maybe she'll have easier sailing in the less competitive Best Actress field. Whatever the case may be, I'm stoked to see what Chandor and company have cooked up.
What's that? You want a taste now? Oh, good, because the trailer dropped this morning along with the release date news. Check it out at the top of this post, and you can take a look at the stylish new teaser poster below.
“A Most Violent Year” is a thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built. David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks and Catalina Sandino Moreno also star.