Brad Pitt's 'Ad Astra' Pulled From May Release Date
If you had plans to see Brad Pitt's "Ad Astra" on its scheduled release date, May 24, you'll have to make alternate plans.
The upcoming sci-fi flick has been pulled from the release schedule, Variety reports. This is the second time the film has been taken off a scheduled date, as Fox previously had "Ad Astra" slated to open on Jan. 11, 2019. So far, there isn't a new opening day set.
The film comes from director James Gray, who co-wrote it with Ethan Gross. It stars Pitt as an Army Corps engineer who is determined to find out what happened to his father, who went missing on a journey to Neptune. The actor appears alongside Ruth Negga, Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Kennedy, and Donald Sutherland.
Gray is still finishing the film, according to a new report from IndieWire. The goal is now to be ready for fall festivals instead of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in late May. Disney, the new owner of the bulk of 21st Century Fox, is expected to make an announcement soon regarding release schedule changes.
The "Ad Astra" news didn't come out of left field. Gray told The Film Stage in December that he didn't know if the film would be done in time to open at Cannes and that he'd been feeling scared ahead of the prospective January opening.
"I did not want to be up against a release date and have stuff looking really bad," Gray told The Film Stage. "I'm hoping we can make May."
He's clearly focused on quality and now has more breathing room.