Sony Pictures Classics Dates Steve Coogan Dramedy ‘The Penguin Lessons’ For March

Sony Pictures Classics has announced that it will release its dramedy The Penguin Lessons, starring Academy Award nominees Steve Coogan (Philomena) and Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes), in theaters nationwide on March 28.

The film is set to open against Focus Features’ Sundance entry The Ballad of Wallis Island, starring Carey Mulligan; Universal’s horror thriller The Woman in the Yard, A24’s Death of a Unicorn, starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd; and Amazon MGM’s Jason Statham action thriller A Working Man, among other titles.

Based on Tom Michell’s 2016 memoir of the same name, The Penguin Lessons is inspired by the true story of a disillusioned Englishman who went to work in a school in Argentina in 1976. Expecting an easy ride, Tom (Coogan) discovers a divided nation and a class of unteachable students. However, after he rescues a penguin from an oil-slicked beach, his life is turned upside-down.     

World premiering at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, the film is written by BAFTA Award winner Jeff Pope (Stan & Ollie) and directed by Peter Cattaneo, the Oscar nominee behind titles like Military Wives and The Full Monty. Vivian El Jaber (Guapas), Björn Gustafsson (Spy), and Alfonsina Carrocio (Society of the Snow) round out the cast.

Currently in the awards race with titles like I’m Still Here and The Room Next Door, Sony Pictures Classics is next set to release the documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin on February 7.