Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal gets July release; Grimsby pushed to 2016

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Director Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama SOUTHPAW is getting a prime summer release date this year. In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a left-handed boxer who wins a title but suffers various tragedies in his personal life; he's also trying to win back the love of his daughter. It sounds like THE WRESTLER but without an awesome Bruce Springsteen track to back it up doesn't it? The movie will open on July 31st, 2015 opposite the POINT BREAK remake (that’s still a thing?) and the sci-fi thriller SELF/LESS starring Ryan Reynolds.

I suspect POINT BREAK to crack first and move out of that spot and into a quieter weekend elsewhere. Who would want to take on Gyllenhaal while he’s in beast mode (pictured above)? I was let down by Fuqua’s THE EQUALIZER last year, a little too unoriginal for my taste, especially with his TRAINING DAY star Denzel Washington in the lead. I’ll be optimistic about SOUTHPAW though, as Gyllenhaal is definitely growing on me with great performances like PRISONERS and NIGHTCRAWLER. It was written by Kurt Sutter (creator of Sons of Anarchy) and also stars Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, and Naomie Harris.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sony Pictures has pushed the new Sacha Baron Cohen comedy GRIMSBY from its July 31 spot this year to February 26, 2016; it will go up against the BEN-HUR remake. Not a huge loss considering we haven’t seen anything from the movie yet except for a few crude shots of Cohen. He stars as an English football hooligan who is the long-lost brother of a British black ops spy (Mark Strong) with whom he is forced to go on the run. Louis Leterrier (NOW YOU SEE ME) directs the comedy which also stars Rebel Wilson and Penelope Cruz.

As a fan of Cohen I'm definitely interested in seeing more from this movie; it's going to offend a lot of people I hope. That's always the best.