Focus Features’ official “Promising Young Woman” synopsis reads: “Everyone said Cassie (Mulligan) was a promising young woman… until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.”

In her review out of Sundance, IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote, “Don’t let the darkness of Emerald Fennell’s twisted directorial debut scare you off. There’s plenty of pleasure to be found in its bruising, pitch black humor. Her raucous debut twists its buzzword-laden, spoiler-free synopsis — it’s a #MeToo rape revenge thriller with bite! — into something fresh and totally wild.” Prior to “Promising Young Woman,” Fennell took control of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Emmy-winning series “Killing Eve” as the showrunner of its second season. Starring opposite Mulligan is a cast that includes Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Laverne Cox, Adam Brody, Sam Richardson, Molly Shannon, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chris Lowell, and Max Greenfield. While major tentpoles such as “Dune” and “No Time to Die” having left the 2020 release calendar in favor of 2021 theatrical openings, Focus is moving ahead with a theatrical release for “Promising Young Woman” this holiday movie season. The film joins Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984” as theatrical openings for Christmas. Disney announced its Pixar entry “Soul” will open on Christmas Day but on the streaming platform Disney+. Focus Features will release “Promising Young Woman” in theaters on December 25. Watch the new trailer for the film and check out the official poster below.

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