Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Will Smith's 1st Movie Since Oscars Slap To Be Released In December

Will Smith's 1st Movie Since Oscars Slap To Be Released In December

Apple made the surprise announcement that the tainted star's latest movie will hit theaters December 2, and begin streaming on Apple TV+ a week later.
Less than a year after Will Smith shocked millions around the world by slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, his new film "Emancipation" will be released this December, Apple said Monday.

The slavery drama was broadly assumed to have been delayed in the wake of Smith's assault on comedian Rock, which drew widespread condemnation and resulted in Smith being banned from attending the Academy Awards ceremony for 10 years.

But Apple made the surprise announcement that the tainted star's latest movie will hit theaters December 2, and begin streaming on Apple TV+ a week later.

The timing means Apple will be able to submit "Emancipation" to compete at the Oscars next March, just a year after it made history as the first streamer to win the Oscar for best picture with "CODA."

Smith has kept a relatively low profile since that night at the Academy Awards, when he won best actor for his performance in "King Richard" just minutes after he had marched on stage and hit Rock for making a joke about his wife.

The former "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" star made a public apology shortly after the incident, and released an emotional social media video about the moment in July, offering to meet with Rock "whenever you're ready to talk."

The 53-year-old also resigned his membership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- although the organization did not revoke his best actor award, and his decade-long ban from attending the ceremony does not prevent him being nominated for Oscars.

Smith this weekend attended an advance screening of "Emancipation" hosted with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the US capital Washington.

The movie stars Smith as a fugitive from slavery on a harrowing journey north from Louisiana seeking freedom.

His character Peter is inspired by the infamous photograph of a slave whose back was mutilated by lashes received on a plantation, and who was dubbed "Whipped Peter."

The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose 2001 police drama "Training Day" earned a best actor Oscar for Denzel Washington.

"Emancipation" was originally due to be filmed in Georgia, but production was moved last year after the southern US state approved a voting rights law that critics say is intended to depress turnout in Black and other underrepresented communities.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×