‘The Current War’ Gets Release Date; 101 Studios’ First Film Was Caught In Weinstein Co Bankruptcy
The Current War finally is ready to plug in. The film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison and Michael Shannon as his rival George Westinghouse is set to open October 4 as the first release from 101 Studios.
The pic had been set for a Thanksgiving 2017 release via the Weinstein Company before it filed for bankruptcy protection and was sold to Lantern Entertainment amid the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The Current War will bow in select theaters before going wide October 11.
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It’s the story of the cutthroat competition that literally lit up the modern world. Edison is the celebrity inventor on the verge of bringing electricity to Manhattan. On the eve of triumph, his plans are upended by charismatic businessman Westinghouse, who believes he and his partner, the upstart genius Nikolai Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), have a superior idea for how to rapidly electrify America. As Edison and Westinghouse grapple for who will power the nation, they spark one of the first and greatest corporate feuds in American history.
Katherine Waterston, Tom Holland, Matthew Macfadyen and Tuppence Middleton also star in the film from Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. playwright Michael Mitnick penned the script.
Former TWC CEO David Glasser and COO David Hutkin’s 101 Studios launched in January with $300 million in funding for film and RV projects. The Current War is its inaugural release.
The Current War‘s twisty road began when Timur Bekmambetov sparked to Mitnick’s Black List script. He made a deal with the Weinstein Company, and lobbied for Scorsese protege Gomez-Rejon to direct. It premiered at Toronto in 2017. Read more about the film’s backstory here.
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