One of the only films yet to screen for critics is the latest from Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot, The Reader), but that is because he only finished it a few days ago. The 9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will hit theaters at the very end of the month, but Warner Bros. has unveiled a new trailer, after an initial look earlier this awards season. Thanks to no U2, this seems a little less manipulative, but still seems to be tailor-made for the Academy.

Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button, Munich) has adapted Jonathan Safran Foer‘s hit novel and unless this is a complete failure, the cast of Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, James Gandolfini, Zoe Caldwell, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, and Max von Sydow, launch it into a sure-fire Oscar contender. Every single beat looks to be tugging on heartstrings, but I don’t mind seeing a film like this during the Christmas season. It is looks like easy comfort food to enjoy among the batch of other movies at the theater. Check out the trailer below via Apple.

Synopsis:

Oskar (Thomas Horn) is convinced that his father (Tom Hanks), who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother (Sandra Bullock) and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can’t be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father’s closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close hits limited theaters on December 25th, 2011 before expanding wide on January 20th.