ANNIE Film Release Date Moves Up to 12/19

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the big screen adaptation of ANNIE will now be released a week earlier, December 19th, to avoid the Christmas Day rush.The remake stars Quvenzhane Wallis in the title role and features an all-star cast including Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale.

The film's original release date of December 25th would have put it in direct competition against such heavyweights as Disney's musical Into the Woods and Fox's Night at the Museum 3. It will now face Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: There and Back, set to hit theaters on December 17th.

Will Gluck is directing the forthcoming major motion picture remake of the beloved Charles Strouse/Thomas Meehan/Martin Charnin stage musical classic ANNIE from a revised script by Emma Thompson and Aline Brosh McKenna. Gluck is producing with James Lassiter, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Shawn Carter aka Jay Z, Jay Brown and Tyran Smith.

The Tony Award-winning stage musical Annie has previously been filmed twice, the first time in 1982 with John Huston in the director's chair and later in a made-for-TV adaptation produced by Disney and helmed by CHICAGO director Rob Marshall in 1999. Annie is currently playing on Broadway in a James Lapine-directed revival starring Lilla Crawford and Anthony Warlow.