In a not-at-all surprising but surely encouraging bit of news, we finally have a release date for Martin Scorsese's Silence. The movie has been in development for quite some time and will finally be hitting theaters this December, just in time for awards season consideration. Like many awards season movies, Silence will initially have a limited release, followed by a much larger rollout in January.

Paramount made the announcement that Silence will hit theaters on December 23, which means they have a lot of hope and confidence that the movie is Oscar worthy. Given that this is a Martin Scorsese movie, not to mention the very promising cast, that is to be expected. This has been a passion project for the legendary director who has been wanting to make the movie for more than two decades. Silence is based on Shûsaku Endô's acclaimed 1966 novel of the same name. Here is a synopsis of Silence, for those who may not know what all of the buzz is about.

"Seventeenth-century Japan: Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to a country hostile to their religion, where feudal lords force the faithful to publicly renounce their beliefs. Eventually captured and forced to watch their Japanese Christian brothers lay down their lives for their faith, the priests bear witness to unimaginable cruelties that test their own beliefs."

Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver are playing the two Jesuit priests in the movie. They are also joined by Liam Neeson who is taking a break from action movies and plays their mentor. Having all of the talent is surely something Paramount is happy about, as the studio has had a pretty rough year so far. They had an abysmal summer with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Ben-Hur, among other movies, tanking at the box office. While arthouse movies like Silence don't often break the bank, Martin Scorsese movies often do. Also, something with powerhouse talent, like The Revenant last year, can transcend and find mass appeal, becoming big box office hits to go along with their award season prestige.

There is no word on the specific January release date for Silence as of yet, but it will be facing some stiff competition. In December. It will be coming out on the same day as J.A. Bayona's critically acclaimed A Monster Calls, as well as some blockbusters like Passengers and Assassin's Creed. Not to mention Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will have only been out for a week. In January, Ben Affleck's latest directorial effort Live By Night will also be expanding, so Silence could have a tough time cutting through all of the noise. Not only that, but the movie reportedly is going to be around three hours long, which can be a bit off-putting to some moviegoers. In any case, this is a movie that will very likely be talked about quite a bit from now till the Academy Awards in February, and now you know when you can see it for yourself.