Less than a year after he became a Hollywood pariah for slapping Chris Rock live onstage at the Oscars, Will Smith is already mounting his comeback, with Apple Studios setting a December theatrical release date for the slavery drama Emancipation.

Apple announced Monday that it will release Emancipation in cinemas December 2, followed by a streaming debut a week later. The dates indicate Apple is positioning the movie for Academy Awards consideration — even though the Academy has banned Smith from all events for ten years as punishment for the assault.

Watch below:

Filmed before the infamous slap, Emancipation tells the true story of a runaway slave (Smith) who attempts to evade his captors and join the Union Army following President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the Confederacy.

The movie is based on the life of the escaped slave known as “Gordon,” whose scarred back was the subject of a famous photo published in Harper’s Weekly.

Emancipation‘s fate appeared to be in jeopardy following this year’s Oscars ceremony. Apple had reportedly pushed the release date to 2023 but the movie’s first screening this weekend at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference elicited praise from attendees.

The screening, hosted by Apple and the NAACP, featured an appearance by Smith.

“Throughout my career, I’ve turned down many films that were set in slavery,” Smith said at the screening. “I never wanted to show us like that. And then this picture came along. And this is not a film about slavery. This is a film about freedom. This is a film about resilience. This is a film about faith. It’s a film about the heart of a man — what could be called the first viral image.”

He added: “This was a story that exploded and blossomed in my heart, that I wanted to be able to deliver it to you in a way that only Antoine Fuqua could deliver.”

In March, Will Smith physically assaulted comedian Chris Rock live at the Oscars after Rock told a joke about Jada-Pinkett Smith’s bald head. The same evening, Will Smith won his first Oscar for his performance in King Richard.

Following the incident, Smith voluntarily resigned from the Academy. The organization’s Board of Governors later sanctioned the actor by banning him from all official events for the next ten years.

***LANGUAGE WARNING***

As Breitbart News reported, Emancipation was shot in Louisiana after pulling out of Georgia in protest of the state’s voter integrity law.

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