Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Lands Awards Season Release Date

Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals will open in select theaters on Nov. 18, the heart of awards season.

The Focus Features release, starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, tells the story of an art gallery owner who is haunted by her ex-husband’s novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a symbolic revenge tale.

Nocturnal Animals will continue to expand midweek on Nov. 23, the beginning of the long Thanksgiving holiday, before rolling out nationwide on Dec. 9.

Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, Ellie Bamber and Laura Linney also star in the specialty film, adapted from Austin Wright’s novel, Tony and Susan.

The Thanksgiving corridor is primetime when it comes to unveiling movies vying for awards attention, and Nocturnal Animals has no shortage of competition. Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea also begins its platform run on Nov. 18, while survival tale Lion opens in select theaters Nov. 23.

Nocturnal Animals marks Ford’s second feature directorial outing after A Single Man, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Released in fall 2009 after making its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, the movie earned Firth an Oscar nomination for best actor as well as a Golden Globe nomination.

(THR)