When the trailer for Ridley Scott’s The Martian arrived earlier this week, we were treated to our first look at how Matt Damon was going to “science the shit” out of being marooned on Mars. Well, the entertaining promo has apparently made enough of an impression to have the film’s release date moved up by almost two months.
The Martian was originally scheduled to premiere over Thanksgiving weekend (November 25), but 20th Century Fox has just announced a new release date of October 2. Deadline notes that The Martian will hit theaters on the same date as Gravity two years ago (no word yet on whether Neil deGrasse Tyson will be available to tweet about possible scientific inaccuracies). Picking up the holiday weekend spot is the Gothic whatever that is Victor Frankenstein, starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe.
In The Martian, Damon stars as Mark Watney, a botanist whose team, led by Jessica Chastain’s Melissa Lewis, accidentally leaves him for dead on the red planet. Watney must then find a way to contact NASA, or request the longest Uber ride ever. But he also has to grow enough food to stay alive for the four years it will take NASA to pull this off. Given the humorous tone of the movie’s source material, there might even be a chance we’ll see Damon give himself the old “how do you like them apples?” treatment.