In the late 19th century, Edison, famous, iconoclastic and unwaveringly wed to his direct current system of electricity, begins a battle with publicity-shy industrialist Westinghouse, and his system of alternating current. The rivalry begins in his lab at Menlo Park, New Jersey, and spills onto the country’s front pages into a bitter court case. The two struggle via fair means and foul to win the War of the Currents.

Hostilities boil and lives are lost as the rivalry plays out on a thrilling, world-changing scale. As the two vie for the right to power the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the arrival of an otherworldly Serb inventor called Nikola Tesla may finally tip the balance…

Entertainment Film Distributors are delighted to announce that THE CURRENT WAR, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the great American inventor Thomas Edison and Michael Shannon as his rival, revered entrepreneur, George Westinghouse, will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Friday 26h July.

Fuelled by the intense rivalry between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, THE CURRENT WAR tells the dramatic story of the late 19th century race to light up America and power the world. Rounding out the cast are Nicholas Hoult as the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla, Katherine Waterston as Westinghouse’s outspoken wife Marguerite, Tom Holland as Edison’s confident young secretary Samuel Insull, Matthew Macfadyen as the famous financier and banker J.P. Morgan, and Tuppence Middleton as Edison’s supportive wife Mary.

THE CURRENT WAR is produced by Timur Bekmambetov (WANTED) for Bazelevs Production and Basil Iwanyk (A STAR IS BORN) for Thunder Road Pictures. The films executive producers include Martin Scorsese (THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, THE DEPARTED) and Steve Zaillian (SCHINDLER’S LIST, MONEYBALL).