Apple & Paramount Set October WW Theatrical Release For Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’; Is Leonardo DiCaprio-Robert De Niro Epic Still Cannes-Bound As Deadline Scooped In July?

Mike Fleming Jr
·2 min read
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Apple Original Films today laid out its release plans for Killers of the Flower Moon, the Martin Scorsese-directed adaptation of the David Grann book that pairs the helmer’s two favorite leading men: Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

While the release date is different, the information Apple announced is much the same as when Deadline revealed the plans in July — particularly that Paramount Pictures will earn its place as part of the original deal Deadline also broke and will team with Apple to release the film theatrically worldwide. The film will open limited Friday, October 6, and go wide Friday, October 20, before it moves to streaming globally on Apple TV+.

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When Deadline revealed this last summer, the original plan was to closely replicate the release pattern of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, which premiered at Cannes in May, 2019 and then opened in late July. The unanswered part of this is whether Apple and Paramount launch Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes, which was part of Deadline’s scoop last summer. That would leave a five month gap between Cannes and its theatrical run. Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood remained Oscar relevant with a slew of nominations and a Best Supporting Actor win for Brad Pitt. Killers of the Flower Moon is expected to be a frontrunner in the next Oscar race, and launching in the Oscar corridor in October can only help that. My bet is it still goes to Cannes.

Directed by Scorsese and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese from Grann’s fact-based book, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The result was the formation of the FBI. Aside from DiCaprio and De Niro, the film stars Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion and Tantoo Cardinal.

Killers of the Flower Moon was produced by Imperative Entertainment, Sikelia Productions and Appian Way. Producers are Scorsese, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas and Daniel Lupi, with DiCaprio, Rick Yorn, Adam Sommer, Marianne Bower, Lisa Frechette, John Atwood, Shea Kammer and Niels Juul serving as executive producers.

This is a big one in a loaded slate for Apple, which became the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar two years ago with CODA. Also coming is the Ridley Scott-directed Napoleon, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte and Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine. That film had been rumored as a Cannes possible, but seems more likely for a launch berth at a fall festival like Venice.

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