Open Road Horror Feature ‘Separation’ Moves To Late April Following ‘Black Widow’s Move To July

EXCLUSIVE: With Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow jumping from May 7 to July 9, there’s a lot more oxygen in the late spring theatrical release calendar. Open Road will take advantage of that pic’s absence and is moving up its horror feature Separation from April 23 to April 30.

Deadline first told you about Open Road and Briarcliff Entertainment jointly acquiring U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the movie which stars Rupert Friend, Violet McGraw, Mamie Gummer, Madeline Brewer and Brian Cox.

The William Brent Bell-directed feature, which was written by Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun, tells the terrifying consequences of divorce: a young girl finds solace in her artist father and her dead mother. The movie was shot entirely in New York City, and is is produced by Bell, Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, Russ Posternak, Jesse Korman and Clay Pecorin. EPs are Seth Posternak, Russell Geyser, Jane Oster, James Masciello, Matt Sidari and Open Road’s Tom Ortenberg.

Open Road and Briarcliff acquired Separation from Rainmaker Films, Yale Productions and The Machine Room, in association with Post Film.

Open Road has released two Liam Neeson action movies during the pandemic: Honest Thief last fall which made $14.2M at the domestic B.O. and The Marksman, which is still in wide release in its 10th week with a running total of $14.3M. When NYC theaters reopened over the weekend of March 5-7, Neeson came out and thanked fans for coming out to AMC Lincoln Square.

Here’s the updated wide release calendar through the end of summer — clearly pics are going to have to move, the deeper we get into summer:

March 26
Nobody (Uni)

March 31
Godzilla v. Kong (WB/Legendary/HBO Max)

April 2
The Unholy (Sony)