Well, here it is folks! The wait is over!

Fox Searchlight recently moved up the theatrical debut of Steve McQueen’s highly-anticipated drama 12 Years A Slave, from December 27 to October 18.

Apparently, Fox Searchlight felt that the film could do a lot better if released earlier, in the fall, instead of releasing it right around the start of the winter.

It’ll open in a limited roll-out and will then expand nationwide in successive weeks. 

I still fully expect it to premiere at one of this year’s remaining high profile international film festivals, before its new October 18 release date – like maybe the Venice Film Festival, or the Toronto International Film Festival.

The R-rated slave narrative, McQueen’s 3rd feature, boasts a rather impressive cast of actors, including: Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Solomon Northup, the star of the film and whose story it tells), Michael Fassbender, Ruth Negga, Adepero Oduye, Alfre Woodard, Lupita Nyong’o, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scoot McNairy, Garret Dillahunt, Brad Pitt, Michael K. Williams,  Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson and others. 

I expect it to be an awards season favorite, especially in key roles, both in front of and behind the camera, in what will probably signal the beginning of the end of what I previously referred to as “slave movie fever.”

As expected, after Fox Searchlight recently released a set of official photos from the upcoming film, giving us our very first look at it, here’s the first trailer for the film (replete with music from McQueen’s last film, Shame), as the marketing engines continues to turn (you’ll find a first poster below the trailer as well):