Colin Trevorrow’s ‘The Book of Henry’ Pushed to 2017

Variety reports that Focus Features has pushed back Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry to 2017.

The Book of Henry, a drama focused on a single mother raising a child prodigy, has been held up just before its September release. Focus has decided on a new plan for Trevorrow’s film and it is going to be released June 16th, 2017. The film’s initial limited release will expand through the July 4th holiday.  Henry will share the June date with Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Cars 3. Focus is aware the film is award-worthy and wants to drum up the proper audience. The summer months aren’t known for debuting blockbuster dramas but Focus thinks they can find that older drama-enthused crowd tired of the typical summer fare. Insiders tell Variety that the film has been testing well and the new date should help.

Removing Henry from this fall’s wide-range of releases may have been a good idea. Focus has their hands full with Jeff Nichols’ Loving, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, and the fantasy-driven adventure A Monster Calls. It would have been a shame if they couldn’t hit their audience due to their own film slate.

Best known for producing top indie hits, Focus, in fear of having a more genre-focused label, underwent some restructuring, in hopes to get back to their original indie ways. Early on, Focus made a name for itself producing Brokeback Mountain and The Pianist.

Trevorrow, off of the success of Jurassic World was able to land some larger gigs, like Star Wars Episode IX. Similar to Focus, Trevorrow got his start in the Indie world as well. Before releasing enormous dinosaurs, he stunned audiences at Sundance with Safety Not Guaranteed.

Naomi Watts stars in The Book of Henry with Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Jaeden Lieberher (Midnight Special). The rest of the cast members include Sia dancer Maddie Ziegler, Sarah Silverman, Dean Norris, and Lee Pace. Crime novelist Gregg Hurwitz wrote the screenplay.