The Empty Man trailer brings a new supernatural boogeyman to theaters (yes, theaters)

Allegedly, there's another comic book movie adaptation coming to theaters before the year is through, despite all Hollywood studios moving their biggest releases either to streaming or into 2021's theatrical lineup.

Disney's 20th Century Studios released the new trailer for The Empty Man, another misfit orphan from the days of 20th Century Fox. In 2016, Fox optioned the rights to the Boom! Studios horror graphic novel to work the title into a movie. But, like many projects in Fox's catalogue, The Empty Man was shuffled around when Disney absorbed the studio.

Many of Fox's titles were contracted for theatrical releases. That's what The New Mutants director Josh Boone alluded to when he spoke to Collider in July about why his X-Men spin-off was heading to theaters during the pandemic and not streaming. "With most movies, you sign contracts that guarantee a theatrical release, so it needs to open to ever go digital in the first place," he said. So, while Disney sends Soul to Disney+ and movies like Black Widow and West Side Story to 2021, The Empty Man is heading to theaters this Oct. 23, one week from now. Advance tickets are currently on sale.

The film, directed and adapted by David Prior, stars James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root, Ron Canada, Robert Aramayo, Joel Courtney, and Sasha Frolova.

The chiller revolves around stories told in a small Midwestern town around the disappearance of local teens. Some believe it's the work of an urban legend, the Empty Man. A retired cop investigating the missing kids discovers a secret group trying to summon a terrifying entity.

As the trailer explains, "If you're on a bridge and you find a bottle, you blow into it and you think about the Empty Man... The first night you hear him, and on the second night you see him... on the third night, he finds you."

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