Acclaimed New Zealand writer and director Taika Waititi will be back with the Jojo Rabbit UK release date planned for early 2020 (details below) following up on the success of Eagle Vs Shark, What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople. It may sound like an odd name for a film, but when you check out the synopsis and meaning explained it’ll make a lot more sense. It’s a dark comedy, so you can also see more on the age rating info to get a good parents guide to help you decide who it’s right for and when.
The upcoming release is Waititi’s sixth film as a director and follows his first big Hollywood film, Thor: Ragnarok, which has added even more attention to his work. He doesn’t spend all of his time off the camera and normally plays a role in everything that he directs, playing Gordon in Eagle Vs Shark, Viago in What We Do In The Shadows, the Minister in Hunt For The Wilderpeople and Korg in Thor: Ragnarok, which he went on to reprise in Avengers Endgame.
However, this time around he’s got the inestimable role of Hitler to play, with the likes of Martin Wuttke (Inglourious Basterds), Michael Sheard (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Charlie Chaplin (The Great Dictator) as inspiration. It’s not your average Hitler portrayal, though, as this will be an imaginary Führer, which gives him a fair amount of leeway in terms of his portrayal.
He’s joined in the cast by a few big names with Scarlett Johansson (Avengers Endgame), Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids), Stephan Merchant (Logan), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2) and Alfie Allen (Game Of Thrones) starring in the film. The cast also includes newcomers Roman Griffin Davis in the lead role and Thomasin McKenzie, who recently had her big breakthrough as Tom in Leave No Trace.
Jojo Rabbit release date UK
Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit has been schedule for a UK release date of Friday 3rd January 2020, so it’s going to be the first must-see film of the year. It’ll have a clear run at the box office for its opening weekend with nothing big out that week, but it’ll be followed by First World War film 1917, which is out in cinemas in the UK a week later.
It had its premier at the Toronto International Film Festival on the 8th September 2019, where it picked up mostly positive reviews, which the odd one or two mixed receptions from critics that made it to the festival. It’ll be out in USA cinemas a lot earlier than in the UK with a release date planned for the 18th October, so there should be a lot more reviews to go on ahead of the UK release in the New Year.
You can see more on the film’s premier at https://www.tiff.net/events/jojo-rabbit.
Age rating and parents guide
The official Jojo Rabbit age rating for the UK hasn’t been confirmed as of yet by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) with the release date still a few months away. However, the USA certification is in already following the premier at TIFF and with the upcoming Stateside release planned for October. It has an age rating of PG13, which is the equivalent to a 12 in the UK, with the Motion Picture Association Of America highlighting that the film has “mature thematic content, some disturbing images, violence, and language” as a parents guide. We’ll update with more details for the UK as they’re confirmed by the BBFC.
Runtime
The runtime for Jojo Rabbit is 1 hour 48 minutes, so it looks set to a relatively short indie-style comedy with fairly significant parallels with the work of Wes Anderson.
Synopsis and title meaning explained
The film centres around Jojo “Rabbit” Betzler (David), a young member of the Hitler youth, which is pretty much the title meaning explained in a nutshell. His blind nationalism and ethnic worldview is challenged when he discovers that his mum (Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (McKenzie) in their attic.
The only person he can talk to is his imaginary friend Hitler (Waititi) who is equally blind and fanatical, but with a little less mental acumen from the look of the trailer. Jojo Rabbit is based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens and you can follow the film’s official Twitter page at https://twitter.com/jojorabbitmovie to see more from the release.
