Open Road Films has moved the Jake Gyllenhaal movie “Nightcrawler” from Oct. 17 to Oct. 31, meaning the film will be released nationwide on Halloween.
The Oct. 17 date became especially crowded when Sony moved Brad Pitt‘s “Fury” up several weeks. “Nightcrawler” would’ve also opened against Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman,” Universal’s “Dracula Untold,” Fox’s animated movie “Book of Life,” Relativity’s romantic drama “The Best of Me,” the Kristen Stewart drama “Camp X-Ray” and the indie comedy “Listen Up Philip.”
With Open Road’s smart decision to delay the movie two weeks, “Nightcrawler” is now the highest-profile release on Halloween, when it will go head-to-head with the Daniel Radcliffe thriller “Horns,” the Nicole Kidman thriller “Before I Go to Sleep” and the horror movies “ABCs of Death 2” and “Why Don’t You Play in Hell.”
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler” stars Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the bloodsport that is local TV news, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
“Nightcrawler” was produced by Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Michel Litvak, David Lancaster and Gyllenhaal. The film was executive produced by Gary Michael Walters and Betsy Danbury.
The movie was financed by Bold Films, while Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales on “Nightcrawler,” which will screen next month at the Toronto International Film Festival.
