Ang Lee film ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ to open in November 2016

Director Ang Lee’s film “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” has staked out its territory.

The wartime drama based on Ben Fountain’s novel will open Nov. 11, 2016, on Veterans Day, TriStar Pictures announced Friday.

Given the end-of-year release date, Lee’s Oscar pedigree (two-time winner, five-time nominee) and the high-profile source material, “Lynn” is shaping up as a presumptive awards-season contender.

Written by “Slumdog Millionaire” scribe Simon Beaufoy, the film stars newcomer Joe Alwyn as the titular character, a 19-year-old private who survives a harrowing battle in Iraq that is captured by news cameras. Lynn and his fellow Bravo Company members are then brought home by the U.S. administration for a promotional tour that culminates in the blowout halftime show of a Thanksgiving Day football game, all while the soldiers face an imminent return to war.

Fountain’s novel was well-received upon publication in 2012, winning the National Book Critics Circle prize and landing on the National Book Award short list.

The Sony-backed film is being billed as an “advanced cinematic experience,” which Lee is currently shooting with high-resolution, high-frame-rate 3-D cameras.

HFR technology has been somewhat controversial — many moviegoers and critics complained about the look of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit,” for example. On the other hand, Lee has proved himself an adroit, tech-savy visual storyteller, and his previous film, “Life of Pi,” was praised for its artful use of 3-D.

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