Paramount Dates Brad Pitt's Heart of the Beast for 2026

Paramount Pictures announced Thursday that its survival thriller Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Ayer, will arrive in theaters on September 25, 2026.

The film follows Pitt as a former Army Special Forces soldier who, along with his retired combat dog, fights for survival after a plane crash strands them in the remote Alaskan wilderness. J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe co-star. Cameron Alexander wrote the screenplay. The September release pits the movie against DreamWorks' animated Forgotten Island, featuring Dave Franco and Jenny Slate, as well as a rerelease of Marvel's Avengers: Endgame.

The project reunites Pitt and Ayer for the first time since their 2014 World War II drama Fury, in which Pitt portrayed a tank commander battling Nazi forces. Producers include Pitt, Ayer, Olivia Hamilton and Marty Bowen, with executive producers Damien Chazelle, Scott Lumpkin, Alexander, Chris Long, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, Andrew Lary, Sophie Cassidy and Zack Conroy.

A trailer screened at CinemaCon last month previewed the intense man-and-dog bond central to the story. In one scene, Pitt's character tells the dog after the crash, "I'm gonna get you home....