Codeblack Films/Lionsgate will release George Tillman Jr.’s The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister And Pete in theaters on October 11, in limited release, announced today.

Making its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the drama stars Jennifer Hudson, Skylan Brooks, Anthony Mackie, Jordin Sparks, Jeffrey Wright, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, in a film that sees Jennifer Hudson as a drug addict mother whose arrest forces her son and his best friend to fend for themselves.

During a sweltering summer in New York City, 14-year-old Mister’s hard-living mother is apprehended by the police, leaving the boy and nine-year-old Pete alone to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the Brooklyn projects. Faced with more than any child can be expected to bear, the resourceful Mister nevertheless feels he is an unstoppable force against seemingly unmovable obstacles. But what really keeps the pair in the survival game is much more Mister’s vulnerability than his larger-than-life attitude. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete is a beautifully observed and tremendously moving film about salvation through friendship and the way transformation sometimes can happen just by holding on long enough.

Skylan Brooks leads the cast as the titular Mister.

The script was penned by Michael Starrbury, and by co-produced by Alicia Keys.

Zeba Blay saw and reviewed the film for S&A over the weekend, which you can read HERE. In short, she dug it.

You’ll recall that, last year, in a move to further strengthen its place in the black cinema space, Lionsgate formed a partnership with Jeff Clanagan, the founder of CodeBlack Enterprises. CodeBlack Films was launched via that partnership.

No release trailer yet, but check out a clip below: