Originally scheduled for a January 13, 2017 release, Fox has moved up the opening date for “Hidden Figures” to December 25, giving it an initial limited theatrical release (we assume an Oscar-qualifying run), before a January 6, 2017 nationwide roll-out. So we can officially add the film to our 2017 Oscar potentials (although it’s already on my list).

Given all the marketing materials we’ve seen thus far for the film, presenting it as a relatively innocuous, uplifting family dramedy, a release date during the holidays makes sense.

December is a crowded month; there’s also Will Smith’s “Collateral Beauty,” Denzel Washington’s “Fences,” Halle Berry’s “Kidnap,” and the next film in the “Star Wars” franchise, which is sure to occupy lots of theaters and dominate at the box office, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” These are all films opening wide. We can now add “Hidden Figures” into the mix (although a limited release to start)..

Director Ted Melfi’s “Hidden Figures,” the much-anticipated feature film adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same name (published last month – order a copy here), tells the untold true story of some of the African American women mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Civil Rights era.