2ND UPDATE: Sylvester Stallone’s MGM thriller Samaritan is heading to Dec. 11, 2020. I hear that the actual reason for the move was that the Stallone film needs more time to be completed. That’s one week after the first weekend in December which following Black Friday weekend is a no man’s zone for wide entries. Samaritan becomes the only wide entry as of right now on Dec. 11. The following weekend Dec. 18 has Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Dune, Sony’s Uncharted, Paramount’s Coming to America 2, and Amblin/Fox’s Steven Spielberg West Side Story reboot.

Samaritan on its old date leaves behind Warner Bros./Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong, Sony’s Kristen Stewart-Mackenzie Davis pic Happiest Season, an untitled Amblin movie plus the expansion of Tom McCarthy’s untitled Focus Features movie.

Christmas falls on a Friday with Fox’s Ridley Scott The Last Duel opening limited, Paramount/Skydance’s The Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt, Universal’s News of the World with Tom Hanks, and DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods 2 and Warner Bros.’ Tom & Jerry on Wednesday, Dec. 23.

PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, Sept. 24: MGM will be opening Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan on November 20, 2020, in the pre-Thanksgiving period.

Deadline exclusively reported Monday that MGM closed a deal with Julius Avery (Overlord) to direct the thriller, which is Stallone’s next starring vehicle following this weekend’s opening of Rambo: Last Blood ($18.8M), the finale in that franchise. Production begins early next year on Samaritan.

Based on an original idea, Samaritan centers on young boy who is out to discover if a mythic superhero, who vanished 20 years earlier following a tragic event, is still alive. Screenwriter is Escape Room‘s Bragi F. Schut. Stallone and Balboa Productions partner Braden Aftergood is producing as the first project for their company. Schut will serve as EP.

Samaritan will be up against such wide releases as Sony’s Kristen Stewart-Mackenzie Davis comedy romance Happiest Season, an untitled Warner Bros. event film and an untitled Amblin Partners feature from Universal as well as the expansion of Focus Features’ Tom McCarthy-directed movie.