Sony Sets Dates For Whitney Houston & George Foreman Biopics, Two Others; ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ On The Move

Sony Pictures announced a slew of release dates late Thursday, including its Whitney Houston and George Foreman biopics, children’s book adaptation Harold and the Purple Crayon and its acquired title A Mouthful of Air. The studio also moved back the opening of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by four months.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody, TriStar’s story about pop legend and part-time movie star Houston, gets a December 23, 2022, opening slot. Naomi Ackie stars as the iconic singer with Kasi Lemmons is directing.

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The Untitled George Foreman Biopic from Affirm Films, which tells the story of the former boxer’s rise from Olympic gold medalist to fighting Muhammad Ali and eventually becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history, is set for September 16, 2022. Khris Davis stars as Foreman in the pic from director George Tillman Jr.

Columbia Pictures’ Harold and the Purple Crayon, based on Crockett Johnson’s best-seller and starring Zachary Levi, will open on January 27, 2023, and A Mouthful of Air, writer-director Amy Koppelman’s pic from Stage 6 Films about a successful children’s book author starring Amanda Seyfried and Finn Whitrock, will bow next month, on October 29.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Javier Bardem and Winslow Fegley, moves back from July 22, 2022 to November 18. The Columbia Pictures film directed by Will Speck & Josh Gordon is based on the best-selling children’s book by Bernard Waber. In its new slot Lyle, Lyle will face Universal’s She Said, moving away from the date occupied by Paramount’s Under the Boardwalk and Universal’s Nope.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody will arrive a week after Avatar 2 will go up against a pair unnamed films from Universal and 20th Century/Disney. Paramount’s Babylon arrives on Christmas Day in limited release.

The Foreman movie also will lace up the gloves against TBA releases from Universal and Fox, along with Lionsgate’s White Bird: A Wonder Story.

Harold and the Purple Crayon will draw against Universal’s horror pic Last Voyage of the Demeter.

A Mouthful of Air will battle with a pair of wide openers: Focus Features’ Last Night in Soho and Searchlight’s Antlers.

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