Will Smith’s action drama ‘Emancipation’, which was earlier set to premiere in 2022 on Apple TV+, has now been postponed to 2023.
Slap Incident at the Oscars is now echoing in Will Smith’s ear instead of Chris Rock‘s. Apparently, Will Smith has already been banned from the Oscars for 10 years after the slap incident and also the actor’s upcoming projects have been postponed or pushed back. In such a situation, Will Smith’s upcoming Apple TV+ action drama Emancipation has been delayed from 2022 to 2023.
Emancipation is directed by Antoine Fuqua, best known for Training Day and The Equalizer. It is also worth noting that Apple TV+ did not set a release date for Emancipation, but it was also believed that Will Smith’s action drama was expected to premiere on the streaming platform by the end of 2022.
In this context, one of Variety’s sources says, “it’s the unspoken truth” that Will Smith’s action thriller would not release on Apple TV+ later this year. Though, same source also revealed that there are internal discussions going on between Apple executives and filmmakers on how the release could go ahead in the fall, but that seems very unlikely.
Also, according to Variety, an anonymous filmmaker told before the Oscars event that he had seen early footage of Emancipation in which Will Smith’s performance was superb and was telling the actor to win back to back Oscars. Obviously, Will Smith won the Oscar for ‘King Richards‘ at the recently concluded 94th Academy Awards.
In this way, Apple TV+ will lose out on Emancipation, which could be a major contender for the Oscars, at the 95th Academy Awards like CODA.
Emancipation Release Date
In such a situation, Apple can release TV + Emancipation by the middle of 2023.
Apart from this, Will Smith will next seen in Warner Bros.‘ post-apocalyptic action thriller, I Am Legend 2. Michael B. Jordan will be seen alongside Will Smith in I Am Legend 2. ‘I Am Legend 2’ will also produced by Elizabeth Raposo along with Michael B. Jordan under their banner Outlier Society banner. As well as Will Smith is also producing with Jon Mone under their Westbrook Studio.
