Previously slated for a June 19, 2025 release, the Lionsgate comedyFlarsky, fronted bySeth RogenandCharlize Theron, will now move into a Summer 2019 slot. The move reportedly comes from strong test screenings, though that’s certainly an interesting way to phrase a release-date delay of four months. From 2014 to 2017, the top box office spot for the early weekend frame in February has been an animated kids movie (except for this year’sFifty Shades Freed, you horndogs). Lionsgate also probably didn’t want their live-action comedy going up against Warner Bros. animated sequelThe LEGO Movie 2, which is sure to repeat the box-office crown earned by its predecessor in 2014. Good move, Lionsgate.
AsVarietyreports,Flarskywill now open on June 12, 2025. That weekend may have played well forOcean’s 8this year, but in 2019,Flarskywill run headlong into competition with yet another animated family-friendly sequel,The Secret Life of Pets 2. (Currently on the schedule are Fox’sGambitpicture andUntitled Fox/Marvel Film I, but we’re gonna go ahead and guess that neither of those films–which might be two names of the same flick–will actually make that date.) So, maybe not such a good move? The studio is banking on the movie’s 95+% audience test screenings, which compared the movie to Rogen’s 2007 hitKnocked Up, as a box-office indicator, so that’s worth a roll of the dice, I guess.
As for the film itself:
“Rogen stars as Fred Flarsky, a down on his luck journalist, who through a string of comedic circumstances catches the attention of the world’s most powerful woman, Charlotte Field, (Theron). Much to the chagrin of her handlers, he becomes an important part of her inner circle in her globe-trotting journey to become the first female president of the United States.”
Jonathan Levine(50/50) directs, re-teaming Rogen,Evan GoldbergandJames Weaverof Point Grey with Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairmanJoe Drakeand Lionsgate Motion Picture Group presidentNathan Kahane; their previous collaborations includeNeighbors,This Is the Endand50/50.
