The under-the-radar Mark Wahlberg science fiction flick ‘Infinite’ has been pushed back from its original release date of August 7 of this year, to May 28, 2021, which is Memorial Day weekend. Disney had its live-action ‘Cruella’ starring Emma Stone set for that date, but it is unknown if the coronavirus shut-down will change that.
Lorenzo DiBonaventura is producing ‘Infinite’, which was directed by Antoine Fuqua. While Wahlberg plays the movie’s lead, Evan Michaels, Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays the villain. Chris Evans was cast in the lead, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. The cast also includes Kae Alexander, Liz Carr, Sophie Cookson, Wallis Day, Nabil Elouahabi, Tom Hughes, Rupert Friend, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Toby Jones, Jason Mantzoukas, Melissa Neal, and Dylan O’Brien.
‘Infinite’ is based on D. Eric Maikranz’s novel ‘The Reincarnationist Papers’, about a secret society of people who can recall all of their past lives. A schizophrenic, nearly suicidal man (Wahlberg), tormented by memories of two past lives, stumbles upon the group and decides to join them. It turns out, he may be the key to this group’s survival, as one of their own (Ejiofor) has figured out how to stop the reincarnation process and plans to use it on them. In the book, the hidden society is called the Cognomina, but in the movie, they are called the Infinite, thus the title.
‘Infinite’ wrapped filming on Christmas Eve, and DiBonaventura and Fuqua are currently putting it together with editor Conrad Buff IV, but they are all forced to work on the film separately from home, cutting out the crucial experience of working on it together and having the luxury of gaging one another’s reactions and dealing with any problems immediately. The need for secrecy has also forced them to work even more piecemeal than usual, as they can’t risk storing the entire product in one place, in fear of hackers and leaks. All of this has led to the delay which demanded the rescheduling.
In a chat with Deadline, DiBonaventura stated:
“This movie has real depth and it asks questions and it’s kind of a mind-fu*k in the best possible way. It really makes you think. So when we enter into conversations, you’ve got to stay in it, because to restart it is tricky. This movie is probably different than others, in that its ambition is such that it is timely in this moment, asking the kinds of questions that we are all asking ourselves sitting at home.”
Paramount has scheduled ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run’ to replace ‘Infinite’ in its August 7, 2020 date.
