Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures have announced new released dates for Welcome to Marwen and Green Book. With these latest announcements, both films face each of their own potential success at the holiday box office, as well as Oscar consideration.
Green Book, which stars Viggo Mortensen, centers around a nightclub bouncer whose job as chauffeur to a famous African-American pianist takes him into the Deep South during the 1960s. Alongside Mortensen, the film stars Linda Cardellini and Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali. Where Green Book looks to find audiences through its depiction of the past, Welcome to Marwen looks to captivate viewers through art as a path to recovery. Following a brutal attack, Mark (Steve Carell) struggles to return to normalcy within his life, finding that a unique inclusion of art may be the only means of rediscovering himself. Directed by Academy Award winning director Robert Zemeckis, with a compelling trailer for Welcome to Marwen released last week, it looks to be potential Oscar gold.
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As reported by Coming Soon, Welcome to Marwen will be moving from a previously publicized release date of November 21, 2018 to December 21, 2018. With this new release date, Welcome to Marwen will find tough competition during the holiday box office by facing off against Aquaman and Transformers franchise spinoff Bumblebee. While the competition may seem fierce at the box office, the studio seems to have increased confidence in the film, with the new release date placing Welcome to Marwen in the heart of Oscar season.
![Welcome to Marwen Release Date Moved to December 2018](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Welcome-to-Marwen.jpg)
Green Book will now open on November 21, 2018, facing off against its own tough showdown including Creed II, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2 and Robin Hood. While both films initially seem poised for success with the Indie film and Oscar motivated crowd, the risks in story, art and original content, especially with regards to Welcome to Marwen, leaves room for surprises.
Universal Pictures has been observing a profitable year with many of its films finding success worldwide. With the recent release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom this past weekend, the studio is celebrating the sequel’s current running total of $700 million worldwide – making it the third highest grossing film of 2018.
While not always box office successes, studios of every kind stuff the final months of each year with movies they feel will be most likely to represent them in the Oscar race. While Universal Pictures has not had a Best Picture winner since A Beautiful Mind in 2002, with these latest release dates for Welcome to Marwen and Green Book, confidence seems high to change all that.