David O. Russell’s next feature and (possible) collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, will be released on Christmas Day, 2015, as recently announced in a tweet by Exhibitor Relations.  Jennifer Lawrence expressed her interest in being O. Russell’s leading lady in the project on Live with Kelly and Michael.  Lawrence and O. Russell have proven to be a powerhouse duo with their last two collaborations American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook: both films earned O. Russell Oscar nominations for Best Director and acting nominations for Lawrence (she went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook).  Joy is being produced by Fox 2000 Pictures.  

Joy seems an apt, albeit simple title for a film based on the success story of Joy Mangano, the working-mother turned millionaire entrepreneur and inventor after she found immediate success with her invention the Miracle Mop.  She is the founder and current President of Ingenious Designs LLC, a subsidiary company of the Home Shopping Network, Inc.

December is often the prime time of awards season (American Hustle, nominated for 10 Oscars, opened in December last year), and as we’ve seen with the two collaborations between O. Russell and Lawrence, we can expect Joy to be a potential awards contender.

But the box-office is another story: Joy will compete against likely tent pole sequels such as Paramount’s Mission Impossible: 5 and even Fox’s/Dreamworks’s Kung Fu Panda 3. Star Wars: Episode VII, arguably the most anticipated movie of next year, comes out on December 18, a week before Joy hits theaters.  The competition seems intense, but Lawrence’s star power and O. Russell’s winning streak of critical successes may be enough to attract audiences and awards galore.

Lawrence is currently in the middle of production on the The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part II.  She is attached to Gary Ross’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden and the next X-Men installment, X-Men: Apocalypse.  Her next projects, The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part I and Serena, are both in post-production and will come out later this year.  Meanwhile, O. Russell is attached to helm an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, itself an adaptation (of sorts) of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice.

Joy was scripted by Annie Mumolo, the Oscar-nominated co-screenwriter (with Kristin Wiig) of the raunchy Bridesmaids, and is being produced by John Davis (Chronicle, Devil’s Due), John Fox (Executive Producer The Blacklist), and Ken Mok (Invincible).