Meryl Streep Movie ‘The Iron Lady’ to Open Dec. 30

The Weinstein Co. has set a release date for its awards hopeful The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, and the movie will just be slipping in under the Oscar-qualifying wire.

VIDEO: ‘The Iron Lady’ Trailer

The biopic about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who also put Streep through her paces in Mamma Mia! — had been penciled in for release Dec. 16. But the Weinstein Co. announced in a tweet Sunday night that it will now open Dec. 30. The film will bow in exclusive runs in New York and Los Angeles on that date and then expand wider Jan. 13.

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The keeps the film in Oscar contention since under Academy rules, a movie has until midnight Dec. 31 to begin its one-week qualifying run in Los Angeles County.