Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that the dark comedy reboot of The Witches will be officially foregoing its previous U.S. theatrical release plans, opting for a digital release instead. Originally scheduled to debut in theaters on October 9, the Anne Hathaway-led film will now be making its debut on October 22 exclusively on HBO Max.
Reimagining Roald Dahl’s beloved story for a modern audience, Zemeckis’s visually innovative film tells the darkly humorous and heartwarming tale of a young orphaned boy (Bruno) who, in late 1967, goes to live with his loving Grandma (Spencer) in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks our young hero away to an opulent seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world’s Grand High Witch (Hathaway) has gathered her fellow cronies from around the globe—undercover—to carry out her nefarious plans.
The Witches is being led by Oscar winners Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch and Octavia Spencer along with Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci. It will also feature Kristin Chenoweth, Codie-Lei Eastick and Jahzir Bruno with Chris Rock lending his voice for adult narration.
The new film adaptation is directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay along with Guillermo del Toro and Kenya Barris.