Darren Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler' Gets a December Release Date

Entertainment Weekly reports that the Venice Film Festival winner, The Wrestler - a movie that gained even more praise this past week at the Toronto Film Festival - will be released on December 19th, which qualifies it for Academy Awards recognition. The film was acquired by Fox Searchlight, which knows a thing or two about building Oscar buzz, and will almost certainly make a mint off the film, considering the distribution rights only set the studio back $4 million. Director Darren Aronofsky fought very hard for Mickey Rourke to play the title role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler at the tail end of his career. As part of the Fox Searchlight agreement, Rourke's performance will get a publicity campaign for Bet Actor considerarion.