Horror Film Antlers Gets New 2021 Release Date

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the movie theater world into uncharted territory, as plenty of blockbusters are being delayed or released in other formats to encourage social distancing. On Thursday, a wide array of Disney blockbusters were met with that fate, with the studio rearranging its film slate into the years ahead. In addition to removing its live-action Mulan remake from the release schedule entirely, the studio pushed back a lot of other films, ranging from upcoming Star Wars movies to the four planned Avatar sequels. The upcoming horror movie Antlers was also impacted by the switcheroo, gaining a new release date of February 19, 2021.

The supernatural horror film was previously set to be released on April 17th of this year, but was delayed this past March alongside Mulan and The New Mutants. While circumstances surrounding Antlers' release could obviously continue to evolve - especially as some experts say that movie theaters might not be operating until the middle of 2021 - this new date at least provides horror fans with a bit more of an indication of when to expect the film.

In Antlers, a small-town Oregon teacher (Keri Russell) and her brother (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, discover that a young student (Jeremy T. Thomas) is harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences. The new trailer reveals that dangerous secret to be that someone close to the young boy, perhaps his father, is possessed by none other than Wendigo, with the boy bringing them their meals (the other people in the town).

Antlers also stars Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan. It is directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Hostiles), with a script from Cooper, C. Henry Chaisson, and Channel Zero creator Nick Antosca. The film is adapted from Antosca's short story "The Quiet Boy", which was first published in January of 2019.

"I was so influenced early on by the work of John Carpenter, like Halloween, or certainly The Exorcist which is a favorite of mine, or even Tarkovsky's Stalker," Cooper shared in a previous interview. "So I'm able to bring all of that into one film which is exciting."

"[Producer Guillermo del Toro] said I've obviously never seen you direct a horror film, but there's a lot of horrific moments in your movies, so I'm more interested in someone who doesn't work in that genre to step into it," Cooper continued. "Which is I guess a bit like Friedkin in a sense, having not directing in that genre before he took on The Exorcist. So I find that exciting, I've made my musical of sorts and my personal film with Out of the Furnace and my anti-gangster gangster movie, and then the Western… [Guillermo is] fantastic and so supportive and wildly imaginative, so it's really been a great collaboration. I'm very fortunate that he asked me to do this."

What do you think of Antlers getting a new release date? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

As mentioned above, Antlers is currently scheduled to be released on February 19, 2021.