14 DAY TRIAL // Christian Bale was supposed to play lead in the war drama “Child 44,” which has been keeping movie buffs on their toes for at least a couple of years, but he backed out and was replaced by Tom Hardy. After the first couple of photos from the film were released last year, nothing much was heard of it.
I have some good news and some bad news: the good news is that “Child 44” finally has a US release date. The bad news is that it won’t drop in theaters until next spring.
Variety confirms that Lionsgate has “Child 44” booked for theatrical release on April 17, 2015. A handful of other, luckier territories will get it earlier, as per IMDB: the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden in October, France in December.
No word yet on when or if a wide release is also in the books.
“Child 44” stars Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Joel Kinnaman, and Vincent Cassel and is based on a best-selling novel by Tom Rob Smith. Richard Price handled the script.
The action is set in Stalinist Russia, with Hardy playing a war hero who starts investigating a series of murders of children, when he stumbles onto something bigger than he could have ever imagined. The deeper he digs, the more in danger he and his wife (Rapace) are, to the point where they stand to lose everything if he doesn’t stop.
My guess is they won’t.