If this summer feels a bit off, it may be that you're missing the usual Woody Allen comedy that drops right about this time each year. There hasn't been a summer release date announced for his latest, Wonder Wheel, and now we know it's because Amazon Studios has much bigger plans for it, Oscar-related plans.
Wonder Wheel gets a limited release on December 1st, presumably with an expansion to follow a few weeks later. The 1950s era film is set at an amusement park and stars Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi, and Tony Sirico. While details are being kept secret, per usual for Allen, there will be infidelity, lovers, gangsters, and more involved somehow.
Even through what most people would consider a down stretch of his career, Allen has still been a factor at the Academy Awards. 2013's Blue Jasmine earned Cate Blanchett a Best Actress and Allen a nomination for Best Screenplay, while 2011's Midnight in Paris won him the award for Best Screenplay and earned a Best Director nomination. We'll see if he can replicate that success this time.
