Universal’s domestic release of Simon Kinberg’s directorial The 355 is jumping from its MLK 2021 weekend release to MLK weekend Jan. 14, 2022.
While Universal has committed a number of fresh wide releases during the pandemic to exhibition during Q4, i.e. Focus Features’ Come Play, Let Him Go, Blumhouse’s Freaky, Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age and Tom Hanks’ News of the World, the studio only has domestic on this title, which they bought at Cannes back in 2018 for a reported $20M. The foreign partners, arranged through FilmNation, have a lot of say on this title and the yearning is for a more full-bodied global launch of what is hoped to be another Bourne like franchise, this one all female starring Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Édgar Ramirez and Sebastian Stan.
On MLK 2022, 355 will face off against Warner Bros./MGM’s Sesame Street movie, Paramount/Spyglass’ reboot of Scream and 20th Century Studios’ animated movie Nimona. Universal already had the date reserved for an untitled event film.
355 leaves behind Warner Bros/New Line’s Mortal Kombat and United Artists Releasing’s Guy Ritchie action movie Wrath of Man on MLK 2021. With under 3K theaters open nationwide though, and the past weekend’s box office hitting a disastrously $6.5M, it would not come as a shock if we see the Q1 theatrical release schedule melt away even though Wonder Woman 1984 is sticking to a Christmas Day release simultaneous with its debut on HBO Max.
The 355 is directed Kinberg. He co-wrote the screenplay with Theresa Rebeck (NBC’s Smash, Trouble) off her story by. Movie is produced by Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Chastain’s Freckle Films and by Kinberg for his Kinberg Genre Films. The film is executive produced by Richard Hewitt (Bohemian Rhapsody), Esmond Ren (Chinese Zodiac) and Wang Rui Huan.