Killers of the Flower Moon premiere moved, but this isn't a Dune Part Two repeat

Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

We have good news and bad news about the Killers of the Flower Moon release date. The bad news is that Martin Scorsese's latest movie is no longer going to premiere in select movie theaters on October 6. The good news is that this isn't a Dune: Part Two scenario with it moving out of 2023 altogether, as Killer of the Flower Moon is just removing its limited release and instead going to make its official premiere everywhere on October 20.

Apple shared the news along with the announcement that Killers of the Flower Moon will also play in IMAX theaters and with two new posters for the movie, which you can see below.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon is one of the most anticipated fall movies of 2023. Based on David Grann's best-selling book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. 

In addition to the three stars mentioned above, the Killers of the Flower Moon cast also includes Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, Tantoo Cardinal and Brendan Fraser. Martin Scorsese directed and co-wrote the script with Eric Roth.

Killers of the Flower Moon will eventually make its way onto Apple TV Plus free for all subscribers, but no date has been given for that streaming premiere, as Apple is letting the movie have an exclusive theatrical run.

With the ongoing Hollywood strikes from the writers and actors as they work for a new equitable labor agreement with studios, many big name movies have moved off of their 2023 release dates for 2024. This was most recently seen with Dune: Part Two, which moved from November 3 to March 15, 2024. Another Zendaya movie, Challengers, also opted to wait until 2024.

So it is certainly good news to hear that a shift in release plans for Killers of the Flower Moon is only a couple of weeks instead of multiple months.

Looking at the release calendar, the shift makes plenty of sense. October 6 has a number of movies set to be released, including the John Cena action movie Freelance, the Daisy Ridley thriller The Marsh King's Daughter and the Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal sci-fi movie Foe. On October 20, Killers of the Flower Moon really stands alone as the big release.

Killers of the Flower Moon premiered for critics back in May at the Cannes Film Festival, as a result it already has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% "Fresh" on the review aggregator, which describes the movie as an "artistic zenith."

Killers of the Flower Moon releases worldwide on Friday, October 20.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.