The Sopranos prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, has been pushed back from its March release date to September – a whole year after it was originally due to hit the big screen, Variety reports.
As a Warner Bros. title, the movie will get a hybrid release in cinemas and on HBO Max. So why the delay, if it’s going straight to streaming? Well, by pushing the release date back to the autumn, there’s more of a chance that cinemas may be open again, and it also means the movie can be considered for the 2021-22 awards season.
The Many Saints of Newark is set at the time of the Newark riots, when rival gangsters began to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the city. Michael Gandolfini will play a younger version of Tony Soprano, the fictional mob boss played by his late father, James Gandolfini, in the original HBO series. The cast also includes Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen, and Ray Liotta.
The Sopranos creator David Chase wrote the script with Lawrence Konner, while Alan Taylor is directing – Konner and Taylor also worked on the original HBO series and both won Emmy awards for their writing and directing. The critically acclaimed show ran for six seasons on HBO between 1999 and 2007 and won numerous awards.
