After taking domestic to William Oldroyd’s thriller Eileen out of Sundance, NEON has set a December theatrical release for the pic.
Eileen will go Dec. 1 in NY and LA before going wide on Dec. 8.
The movie starring Oscar winner Anne Hathaway is based on the 2015 debut novel by Otessa Moshfegh. It’s set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, when young secretary Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor Rebecca (Hathaway) at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
Oldroyd’s connection to Sundance began in 2013 when his short film Best won the Short Film Competition. Eileen scored 88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics coming away from its Park City, UT premiere back in January.
Shea Whigham, Marin Ireland and Owen Teague also star in the pic, which was adapted for the screen by Moshfegh with Luke Goebel.
Eileen was produced by Fifth Season, Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman, Stefanie Azpiazu and Peter Cron along with Goebel and Moshfegh’s Omniscent Productions as well as Oldroyd and backing from Film4.
There isn’t much going on at the box office post Thanksgiving in early December. In the Dec. 1 slot, Disney has that on reserve for an untitled film. A horror pic perhaps? That’s usually what works there. On Dec. 8, Searchlight has that on hold for their Sundance pick-up, the Jonathan Majors distrubed bodybuilder pic, Magazine Dreams.