The Oscar season is just heating up, and with no clear frontrunner yet this year, studios are still surveying the board to see if their pictures will have a chance. While Warner Bros. hasn’t formally announced anything yet, recent word suggests that Ben Affleck‘s Prohibition era drama “Live By Night” will get some kind of qualifying run in December before it goes wide in January. And it looks like Fox will be borrowing from the same playbook for their NASA tale, “Hidden Figures.”
Earlier this week, the first trailer dropped for the movie starring Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer that tells the true story of a group of female African-American mathematicians who used their considerable talent to aid NASA during the crucial years of the Space Race. It sounds like inspiring, crowd-pleasing stuff and Fox wants to get the word out early. THR reports that the studio will be bringing the movie to TIFF where they’ll screen footage, host a Q&A, and present a live concert featuring Pharrell Williams and other artists from the soundtrack.
I would wager that the reception at TIFF will determine whether or not Fox decides to roll the movie out in December in limited release before going wide on January 13, 2017 (the same date as “Live By Night,” for what it’s worth). But it’s worth noting that Fox pretty much employed the same release strategy for David O. Russell‘s “Joy” last year. At any rate, it means that “Hidden Figures” is another movie to keep on your Oscar radar in the weeks ahead.