Those of you curious to check out what director Oliver Stone has in-store for us with his aptly titled SNOWDEN movie are going to have to shelve your interests until next year. The movie, based on the books "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man" by Luke Harding and "Time of the Octopus" by Anatoly Kucherena, has been pushed to an unknown date in 2016.
SNOWDEN, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Tom Wilkinson, Melissa Leo, Nicolas Cage, Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, and Rhys Ifans, was initially supposed to open on Christmas day alongside Quentin Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT and Alejandro Inarritu's THE REVENANT (both in limited release). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film isn't quite finished yet. Given what else opens in December, I also wouldn't be surprised if Open Road Films wanted to put some breathing room between SNOWDEN and the rest of December's competition.
Despite Snowden's leaks happening just 2 years ago, it almost feels like old news at this point. With that said, it's hard to tell if Open Road is looking to pump out a film to take advantage of “current news,” or if there's really a compelling story to tell here. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, as they've certainly cast the right man in Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sadly, it's been some time since Oliver Stone (SAVAGES, WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS) pumped out something truly gripping, so I guess we’ll see how this fares next year!
SNOWDEN will open sometime in 2016.