Fox is pulling out all the stops for their upcoming young adult film The Hate U Give, based on the best-selling novel by Angela Thomas. The film will be released in theaters on October 19, going up against Mowgli, Where’d You Go, Bernadette (starring Cate Blanchett), the Halloween reboot, and Serenity.
The Hate U Give is being directed by George Tillman Jr., working from a script by Audrey Wells, and follows 16-year-old Starr (Amandla Stenberg, Everything, Everything) as she is torn between the poverty-stricken neighborhood she grew up in and the new local prep school she now attends. When she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed friend, Starr must find a way to speak her truth and find justice in this new environment.
Just a month after some controversial casting news, the studio is going full speed ahead on the project. Back in April, the actor set to play the protagonist’s boyfriend, Kian Lawley, was fired from the film after videos of him saying racial slurs were found on the internet. Since then, Riverdale star K.J. Apa has been hired to replace him.
The film also stars Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Lamar Johnson, Algee Smith, and Common.