Audiences not headed to the New York Film Festival Closing Night Gala will have to wait a little while longer to catch Oscar-nominee Spike Jonze’s Her.

The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara and Olivia Wilde has had its theatrical release pushed back one month to December 18th. Originally, studio Warner Bros. had slated a limited opening November 20th, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Now the feature set in the near future in Los Angeles, will begin its roll out ahead of Christmas in limited release before going out wide January 10th.

Her will have its World Premiere as the Closing Night film at the 51st New York Film Festival, which runs September 27 – October 13. The film centers on a lonely writer who develops a connection to his new “advanced operating system.” After initiating it, Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) meets Samantha (Scarlett), a bright, female voice who is insightful, sensitive, and even funny.

“The movie has all these high-concept ideas, but it is nevertheless mostly a relationship movie,” Jonze told FilmLinc last week in an interview timed to the announcement that Her would close NYFF. “It’s about love and our need to connect and our [method] of connecting. But, at its heart, it is a relationship movie.”

The release change is seen as an awards-related move, noted THR.

The 51st NYFF will open with the World Premiere of Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks, while the World Premiere of Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will screen as the festival’s Centerpiece October 5. Details about the general roster of NYFF 51 films will be revealed in the coming days.

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