At this point in the pandemic, the amount of films affected by COVID is endless, and one of the first films to shut down because of the virus was B.J. Novak’s Vengeance. However, according to Deadline, after many trials and tribulations, Novak’s directorial debut now has a theatrical summer release date of July 29, 2022.
The film is being pegged as a dark comedy thriller and is set to follow Novak as “Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.” Along with directing, Novak also wrote this Focus Features and Blumhouse production. The film is being produced by Jason Blum, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath while Leigh Kilton-Smith, Christopher H. Warner, and Novak are serving as executive producers. Including Novak, the ensemble cast of the film includes Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, Boyd Holbrook, J. Smith-Cameron, and Dove Cameron.
Focus Features is mostly known for their award-worthy films like the recently Oscar-nominated Belfast and Licorice Pizza, but they are no stranger to genre bending films as they also have released movies like Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho. Blumhouse, on the other hand, have made a career on horror, thrillers, and horror comedies. They are probably best known for reviving franchises like Halloween, but in terms of films in line with Vengeance, the Happy Death Day series is probably their best-known dark comedies.
While Novak is most known for his straight-up comedies with his work on The Office and The Mindy Project, if comedy-centric talents like Jordan Peele and Dave Franco have taught us anything, it is to never count out a comedian’s dark side. Because of this, it will be interesting to see what Novak will bring to this genre-bending story and, from the humorous description alone, this sounds like a film that moviegoers should be looking out for this summer.
It is also important to note that the July 29th date means the film will be going up against Dwayne Johnson’s highly-anticipated DC film Black Adam which releases on that date as well. Both films are in completely different genres, but nevertheless, it will be intriguing to see how this thriller does because since it will go up against a major superhero release. We will find out when Vengeance hits theaters on July 29, 2022, and for all the latest news on the film, stick with Collider.
via Collider