Searchlight Pictures, ever the believer in theatrical, has dated four releases for 2021.
Their Sundance horror pickup The Night House will turn its lights on July 16. The David Bruckner directed titles which Searchlight shelled out a reported $12M for last January follows a widow (Rebecca Hall) who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.
Their Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker televangelist biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye will debut on Sept. 24. The pic, directed by Michael Showalter and written by Abe Sylvia, takes an intimate look at the rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. In the 1970s and ’80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park, and were revered for their message of love, acceptance and prosperity. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire. Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Mark Wystrach, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds and Vincent D’Onofrio star.
Scott Cooper’s horror movie Antlers, which was pushed off the 2020 calendar due to Covid, is now set for Oct. 29. Logline: In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher (Keri Russell) and her sheriff brother (Jesse Plemons) become embroiled with her enigmatic student (Jeremy T. Thomas) whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them. Based on the short story The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca. Antlers’ producers include Guillermo del Toro, David Goyer and J. Miles Dale.
And Oscar winner del Toro’s next movie Nightmare Alley is set to go on Dec. 3, which has been a magical weekend for Searchlight when launching awards season contenders.
Written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, Nightmare Alley follows an ambitious young carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words who hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is. Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn also star.