*Annapurna Pictures is putting its Kathryn Bigelow-directed drama “Detroit” back into theaters on December 1 for an awards-season limited theatrical run, reports Deadline.
The rerelease will include 10 cities and 20-25 screens in such markets as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Springs, Maui and Aspen, as the studio embarks on a full-scale awards campaign for the film and for Bigelow.
“Detroit,” featuring John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Jason Mitchell and Algee Smith, dramatizes the true story of a siege by Michigan State Police and the Michigan Army National Guard of the Algiers Motel during the 1967 Detroit Riots, after a starter pistol was fired from inside. By the time the police action was over, three black men were murdered after they and others were brutalized by white cops who were subsequently exonerated.
The movie gets its digital release Nov. 28 and hits Blu-ray and DVD on Dec. 12.
The studio also put out a new trailer for the rerelease edited to audio of Maya Angelou reciting her poem, “Still I Rise,” and featuring a brief performance clip from Algee Smith’s character.
Watch below:
The film’s original run grossed just $16.7 million domestically, perhaps because summer wasn’t the time for such a bleak and stark film, notes Deadline:
Despite Detroit‘s under-performance, Annapurna Pictures president Marc Weinstock and president of marketing David Kaminow told Deadline that Annapurna will make another attempt to widen the audience exposure to the hard truths in the film by Bigelow and screenwriter-producer Mark Boal (collaborators on Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker). The awful racism depicted in the drama shows the events are repeated too often.
“This movie creates empathy that can spark dialogue that will, hopefully, lead to healing and change. This country needs that now more than ever,” Weinstock told Deadline. “The events in Charlottesville, Virginia happened after our movie came out. The world has changed since August; the mood is different. The film is not only important – it’s even more relevant. People really consider this movie an emotional experience. They come out changed in some way. It’s powerful. Kathryn Bigelow made a film that’s immersive and visceral and authentic…it’s also incredibly bold. In every way. People who did see Detroit in the theaters were knocked out by it and really moved. They were blown away by the power of the storytelling and the characters. Those people really embraced the film.”
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