We learned today that Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, his other-worldly tale set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America, will now open in New York theaters on December 1st before arriving in Los Angeles on Dec. 8th and expanding nationwide the week after. This is all staged as an Oscar bid. This one be a good one! Joe Lipsett reviewed the film out of TIFF and called it an equally beautiful and captivating fairytale.

In the Creature From the Black Lagoon-inspired dramatic thriller, “In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of silence and isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.”

Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg and Doug Jones also star.