Sony Sets Christmas Day 2014 Release Date for ANNIE Reboot

Sony Pictures announced today that it will be 'getting a new deal for Christmas' when it releases the highly-anticipated remake of ANNIE on December 25, 2014. Earlier in the week, it was revealed that Oscar-nominated actress Quvenzhané Wallis will take on the title role in the reimagining of the Broadway musical.

Will Gluck will direct the film as well as revise the screenplay originally penned by Emma Thompson which was based on the musical derived from the adventures of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip. Gluck will produce along with James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith via Overbrook Entertainment, along with Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Jay Brown and Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith through Marcy Media. Production is set to begin later this year.

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, Katie Finneran and Anthony Warlow.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus