It’s a Hard Knock Trailer…Errr…Life in ‘Annie’

Yes, the time has finally come for Columbia Pictures to show off the first official trailer for Annie. Yes, that Annie. The hit Broadway musical is once again being brought to the big screen, this time contemporized and with Jamie Foxx playing a billionaire named Will Stacks rather than Daddy Warbucks.

Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Oscar-nominated young star Quvenzhané Wallis takes on the lead role and Cameron Diaz gets to play one of the film’s lead villains, Miss Hannigan. Or at least we assume she’ll be a villain; the plot seems to have shifted a bit from the original story. What hasn’t shifted is that the new version of Annie will feature fan-favorite songs from the original musical, including “Tomorrow” and “Hard Knock Life.”

Annie was co-written and directed by Will Gluck (Easy A). Columbia Pictures has set a December 19, 2014 release date for the musical.

Annie Movie Poster
Poster for ‘Annie’ (Photo © Columbia Pictures)

The Annie Plot:

Quvenzhané Wallis stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Diaz).

But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Foxx) – advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) – makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.