Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches to HBO Max
The film will head into theatres internationally beginning October 28.
The studio and streamer will now put their might behind the movie with an extensive marketing campaign.
The movie is a reimagining of Dahl’s story for modern audiences, relating a darkly humorous and heartwarming tale of a young orphaned boy who, in late 1967, goes to live with his loving Grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis.
As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks our young hero away to an opulent seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world’s Grand High Witch has gathered her fellow cronies from around the globe—undercover—to carry out her nefarious plans.”
Published in 1983, the novel was set in England.
It was previously adapted in 1990 in a feature that starred Anjelica Houston and Rowan Atkinson.
In addition to Hathaway, Spencer and Rock, the cast includes Stanley Tucci, Kristin Chenoweth and newcomer Jahzir Kadeem Bruno (TV’s Atlanta) and Codie-Lei Eastick (Holmes & Watson).
Zemeckis, the Oscar winning director behind Forrest Gump and Back to the Future, directed the movie. The screenplay is by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro. Zemeckis also produced, alongside Jack Rapke, del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Luke Kelly.
