Brad Pitt’s science-fiction adventure movie “Ad Astra” has quietly vanished from the release schedule, three weeks prior to its previously announced May 24 opening date.
Fox had originally dated “Ad Astra” for Jan. 11, 2019, then decided in late 2018 to move it back four months to the Memorial Day weekend on May 24. Disney closed the deal for the 20th Century Fox film assets in March and has not done any promotion for the movie since then — no trailer or stills have been released. “Ad Astra” was not included in early tracking numbers released Thursday for the Memorial Day period, expected to be dominated by Disney’s live-action “Aladdin.”
Pitt is expected to be at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” in which he co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio. The screening will likely be on May 21, the 25th anniversary of “Pulp Fiction.”
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The studio had no comment Thursday. Disney distribution head Cathleen Taff told exhibitors last month at the CinemaCon convention that the studio would be moving around distribution dates on some of its titles.
James Gray directed “Ad Astra” from a script he co-wrote with Ethan Gross. Regency Enterprises and Fox produced in association with Bona Film Investment Company, which will distribute in China.
Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Jamie Kennedy, and Donald Sutherland are also starring in “Ad Astra.” Pitt is playing a man who journeys across the solar system in search of his missing father, a dangerous renegade scientist. Jones is portraying the father.
Pitt is also producing with Plan B partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner and RT Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira, Keep Your Head Productions’ Anthony Katagas, and Gray.
Gray began shooting the movie in 2017 and said the film would resemble Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Gray’s directing credits include “The Lost City of Z,” “Little Odessa,” “We Own the Night,” “Two Lovers” and “The Immigrant.” The news was first reported by IndieWire.