Tom Hanks’ ‘A Man Called Otto’ Gets A Christmas Release Date As Sony Shifts Its Schedule

What would a year in film be if there wasn’t a Tom Hanks feature arriving smack dab in the middle of awards season? And it appears Sony is ready to line up this year’s Hanks vehicle with “The Man Called Otto,” which is now set to arrive during the Christmas holiday and presumably set up the actor for a possible awards season run. But that wasn’t all of the Sony film news to arrive recently, as the studio decided to juggle its release schedule a bit for 2022, according to THR. 

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But before we get to the other films, it’s important to know why ‘Otto’ is getting that prime date. The film is based on Swedish author Fredrik Backman’s best-selling novel “A Man Called Ove,” which was already adapted into a film in 2015. That Swedish film was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Feature. Add to that the fact that ‘Otto’ is directed by Marc Forester and also stars Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and it’s clear this is a feature that Sony is going to assume will be in awards contention. We’ll have to wait and see. 

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As for other Sony films presumed to arrive in 2022, there’s a bit of bad news surrounding the upcoming feature, “65.” The Adam Driver film from the writers of “A Quiet Place” was originally scheduled to arrive on April 29, but is now moving a full year to April 14, 2023. Joining “65” with a massive delay (if not full-on cancellation) is the Ice Cube film, “Oh Hell No,” which was pulled from its Jun release date and not rescheduled after Ice Cube pulled out after refusing to get a COVID vaccination. 

Other changes include “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” the Whitney Houston biopic starring Naomi Ackie, which is moving up a couple of days to December 21, and then there’s the Sandra Oh-starring film, “Umma,” which now has a March 18 release.