Lionsgate has set a release date of November 8, 2019 for Roland Emmerich’s Midway. Deadline broke the news on the release date, which falls on Veterans Day weekend. The script is penned by Wes Tooke, who is making his feature film screenwriting debut. Emmerich is producing with longtime partner Harald Kloser. Principal photography began last week in Hawaii.
The $100 million epic World War II film tells of the historic 1942 naval battle between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy near Midway Atoll. The U.S. Navy dealt a devastating blow to the Japanese Navy, and the battle proved to be a decisive turning point in the war. Military historians still call the battle one of the most stunning victories in the history of naval warfare.
Patrick Wilson (The Commuter) takes the lead role of Edwin Layton, a U.S. Navy rear admiral who correctly targeted the location of the Imperial Japanese Navy near Midway Atoll in 1942. Three-time Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Solo: A Star Wars Story) will play Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet. Luke Evans (The Fate of the Furious) portrays Lt. Commander Wade McClusky, who led an aerial attack that caused two Japan fleet carriers to sink. Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Nick Jonas, Luke Kleintank, Keean Johnson, Etushi Toyokawa, Tadanobu Asano, and Jun Kunimura round out the cast.
The release date slot puts the film in competition with Paramount’s family-friendly Sonic the Hedgehog. MGM is currently holding onto the same release slot for the much-anticipated Bond 25, however with Danny Boyle recently exiting the directorial seat, that film will likely get bumped to a later release date.