The American Film Institute announced today that the highly anticipated Tom Cruise drama “Lions for Lambs” will be the opening-night film for AFI Fest 2007. Directed by Robert Redford, “Lambs” is the first release under the Paula Wagner / Tom Cruise regime at United Artists. The picture stars Redford, Cruise and Meryl Streep, and is described as a politically charged drama centered around two American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and a U.S. senator with presidential ambitions (Cruise) who May have a hand in their fates. Streep plays a TV journalist poised to land a major story with the help of the senator. Redford appears as an idealistic college professor who is torn by the choices of two of his former students. “We think it’s an exciting film and an important film,” Wagner, UA’s chief executive, said in a statement released today by AFI. “And this is the perfect way to introduce it to the public.” So far, it’s the only festival selection for “Lambs.” It’s scheduled to be in theaters Nov. 9.

At least this is a first official release date by the films’ distributor United Artists according to article: United Artists and MGM have announced that Robert Redford’s “Lions for Lambs” will be released in North America on Friday, November 9, 2007, with the remainder of the world to roll out in subsequent months. Principal photography on the first production from the new UA, began on January 29th with Robert Redford directing and starring alongside Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Derek Luke, Michael Pena, Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg. Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the original screenplay. Also, according to the IMDb, Meryl’s character will be named Ursula Leachman.

According to Variety, Tom Cruise May be ready to get back to work. Cruise is looking at three pics: two from majors (Warner Bros. and Fox), and one that’s being mobilized independently. The indie appears to be the favorite: “Lions for Lambs,” a political drama revolving around a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Scripted by Matthew Carnahan (“State of Play”), the project is shaping up with Robert Redford likely to direct as well as play a role. This is of course not official – as the article states at the end: There are no guarantees on any pic. In February, Cruise looked seriously at a trio of films, none of which he took.The full article can be read here.