'Manchester by the Sea' gets awards season theatrical release date

After picking up the rights to Manchester by the Sea at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Amazon has partnered with Roadside Attractions for a theatrical release in the middle of awards season.

Amazon first picked up theatrical and streaming rights to Kenneth Lonergan’s family drama in January, after its world premiere at Sundance sparked a bidding war. Trade reports placed the company’s deal around $10 million, one of the biggest sales of this year’s festival, with Amazon planning to team up with another studio to coordinate a theatrical release. Under the new deal with Roadside Attractions, Manchester by the Sea will debut on Nov. 18, with a nationwide theatrical expansion planned for the middle of December.

Manchester by the Sea earned rave reviews at Sundance, with EW’s own Chris Nashawaty calling it a “masterpiece,” and critics have universally praised star Casey Affleck for his role as Lee Chandler, a working-class Massachusetts man. When his brother (Kyle Chandler) unexpectedly dies, Lee reluctantly returns to his hometown, where he learns that his brother has named him guardian of his 16-year-old nephew (Lucas Hedges).

Roadside and Amazon previously partnered with Lionsgate on the theatrical release of Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq.