Limited Live by Night Release Set for Christmas Day

Warner Bros. Pictures has set an early Live by Night release for Christmas Day

Warner Bros. Pictures has slightly altered plans for their upcoming Live by Night release. The Ben Affleck film will now get a limited theatrical debut on December 25, allowing for the Dennis LeHane adaptation to be eligible for the next Academy Awards. The wide Live by Night release date is still set for January 13, 2017.

An adaptation of Lehane’s 2012 prohibition era thriller, Affleck directs and stars alongside Elle Fanning (Maleficent), Brendan Gleeson (In the Heart of the Sea, the Harry Potter films), Chris Messina (Argo, The Mindy Project), Sienna Miller (American Sniper, Foxcatcher), Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy, Avatar), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation, The Town).

Live by Night is set in the roaring ’20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.

Live by Night is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson under the Appian Way banner; and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd for Pearl Street Films. Chris Brigham, Dennis Lehane and Chay Carter are serving as executive producers.

Does the new Live by Night release date change your plans as far as when you’ll try to check it out on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below!