Due to strong screenings, Universal Pictures bumped up the release of the new film, which was originally slated for Christmas Day. Mike Nichols (Spamalot, The Graduate) directs.

Based on George Crile's best-selling book, the film "tells the outrageous true story of how one congressman who loved a good time, one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history."

"Charlie Wilson's War" stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts (Three Days of Rain) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Long Day's Journey Into Night). Amy Adams ("Enchanted") and Ned Beatty (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) also appear in the film.

The Sorkin-Nichols work will battle at the box office with the new Stephen Sondheim-Tim Burton collaboration, "Sweeney Todd." The latter features Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Laura Michelle Kelly.

Also opening is "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman's True West and "Chicago" co-star, John C. Reilly; and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" with Nicolas Cage and stage vets Helen Mirren, Harvey Keitel and Ed Harris.

For more information visit charliewilsonswar.net.