Though she didn't win the Best Actress prize for which she was nominated, Quvenzhane Wallis was an undeniable star at Sunday's Academy Awards, rocking everything from her signature puppy purse to her 9-year-old muscles after her clip from Beasts of the Southern Wild played for the audience. Since breaking out in Beasts at Sundance a year ago Wallis has been an ingenue in the making, but it took until the eve of the Oscars to set up her true follow-up star turn.
As reported last Sunday, Wallis is now set to lead the remake of Annie in development at Sony, with no lesser forces than Will Smith and Jay-Z behind it. That film had been a priority for Smith as a starring vehicle for his daughter Willow, but now that Willow has aged out of the part, Wallis has stepped in. Despite that casting switch, though, we had no idea just how soon to expect it. Now an update at Box Office Mojo has Annie coming to theaters December 24, 2014.
That will give them plenty of time to set up a cast to surround Wallis and to hype up the film as a huge Christmas season family event-- and, depending on how it turns out, a potential awards contender. There's no word on which adult actors might take on the major roles of Miss Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks, or even if they'll undergo the same race switch that has given us a black Annie (the original cartoon character, of course, being a white girl with bright red hair). It's hard to imagine anyone not itching to work with a precocious Oscar nominee like Wallis, though, so with a release date in mind, we can hopefully look forward to some casting news shortly.
(Quvenzhane Wallis image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com)
