In the wake of Smith’s slap on Chris Rock and production setbacks, the movie’s scheduled release in 2022 may be scrapped.
Following Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock at this year’s Oscars, Emancipation, his next Apple TV+ movie, has been postponed until 2023. However, according to a recent report, it may not be the only reason for the delay.
Apple TV+ had previously announced that Emancipation will be available in 2022 but had not given a specific date. However, Variety now claims that the streaming service has decided to delay its arrival until 2023. According to some reports, the decision was made in part because of the confrontation between Smith and Rock during this year’s ceremony, which resulted in Smith being banned from the event for the next decade.
There are additional delays that have delayed the movie’s release date farther into the future than had originally been predicted, according to the same article.
Promotion for the film would be dominated by the Smith-Rock incident regardless of whether or not Smith was participating. However, many reports claim that Fuqua’s film may not be finished in time for a 2022 release date because of the ongoing controversy over the slap. Due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida and the hiatus due to COVID cases in August 2021, production was forced to move from Georgia to Louisiana in protest of the state’s voting restriction legislation.
Apple’s filmmaking arm, Apple Original Films, has yet to react, so we don’t have an official release date for what was expected to be another Smith Oscar contender. For obvious reasons, it now seems to be less plausible.
To see Emancipation at home, you’ll need an Apple TV+ membership, which will be available when the film is released. With blockbuster successes like Severance and Ted Lasso now accessible to watch, the $4.99 per month membership becomes even more of a bargain as additional material is added to the library.
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