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Serenity-MM-AH.jpg

What Happened to Matthew McConaughey's 'Serenity'?

By Kristy Puchko | Film | October 24, 2018 |

By Kristy Puchko | Film | October 24, 2018 |


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Where is Serenity? The sultry thriller that stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway first made a splash last June with a tantalizing trailer. Back then, we were promised a release date of October 19. But that date has come and gone, and no press screenings, no premieres, no movie. So, what’s the deal?

If you look at IMDB or Box Office Mojo or even Google, they all agree: Serenity opens January 25. But what’s weird is I can’t find any actual announcement of this shift. Usually, there’s a press release followed by a flurry of entertainment site headlines announcing the change. Instead, a Deadline article from August proclaims the October release date, where the January date is mentioned without note of the change in a post about Diane Lane switching agencies. The Lane news is also the first mention of the later date on The Hollywood Reporter. And the last mention of Serenity on Variety is on September 27, in a piece about how Halloween was eying a monster opening weekend. And that right there probably explains the why.

After much scouring, the only news item I found that’s even close to a revised release announcement is the unveiling of a new poster with the January date. Flickering Myth covered it on September 27—the same day Variety still had it listed as a rival in Halloween’s opening weekend—but FM made no mention of the change.

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Basically, despite having two A-List stars in a seemingly erotic thriller, it appears Serenity’s distributor Aviron Pictures didn’t think the film could compete against the allure of Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Myers. They’re probably right. Serenity was the only title attempting a wide release against the much-anticipated slasher reboot. And both R-rated films were going for adult audiences. So, rather than draw attention to this shift, which might suggest a lack of faith in the production, Aviron Pictures pops up a poster and will likely renew the marketing campaign once Halloween’s time has passed and award season seriousness calls for some steamy counter-programming.

So, sorry to those of you who’ve been craving Hathaway as a vamp and McConaughey as a rugged, lovestruck mark. You have months more to wait, as Serenty is now opening January 25.



Header Image Source: Aviron Pictures