Will Smith‘s first movie since his famous slap at the Oscars this year, “Emancipation,” will come out in December. This makes it eligible for the following awards season.
On Monday, Apple released a trailer for the movie and said “Emancipation” would get a limited release in theatres on Dec. 2 and be available on the company’s streaming service on Dec. 9. The announcement came after a long debate about whether Apple would release the movie this year or wait until 2023.
This was because Mr. Smith was in trouble after he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars in March. Apple would not say anything about what it had planned for the movie. After the incident with Mr. Rock, Mr. Smith won the best actor Oscar that night for his role in “King Richard.”
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It was his first Academy Award, but he quit the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences soon after, saying he had “betrayed” its trust. After that, the academy banned him from the group and all its events for the next ten years.
This punishment does not mean that the actor can not be nominated for an award for his work, but it does not look suitable for “Emancipation,” which was considered for an award before Mr. Smith slapped Mr. Rock.
The fact that the movie was only shown in a few theatres before it was put on the service suggests that Apple wants it to be considered for awards this year. That could go wrong.
The academy has made it clear that it is done with the slap. Bill Kramer, who is in charge of the group, said it would not even be a joke at the following Academy Awards. Mr. Smith plays Peter, a natural person from the 1800s who escaped slavery and fought for the Union Army in “Emancipation.”
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The movie was written by William N. Collage and directed by Antoine Fuqua. It was shown for the first time to the public on Saturday night in Washington, DC, at the 51st Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. After the event, Mr. Fuqua and Mr. Smith, who has been mostly out of the public eye since the Oscars, took questions and answered them.
On July 29, Mr. Smith said he was sorry on his YouTube channel. Almost 3.9 million people have looked at it.
