After being one of the crown jewels at Cannes Film Festival last month, Quentin Tarantino's western film "The Hateful Eight" is now officially one of the U.S. flicks lined up by Italy's Rai Cinema, the country's top local distributor after Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. The studio is setting the film for an early 2016 release, following its Christmas U.S. premiere.

On Monday, the film distribution and production unit of Italo pubcaster RAI has revealed an impressive slate of films in Rome. Though most of the flicks are in Italian titles, as it is a government-funded project, Variety reports that it is still strong on international fare, most especially those from Hollywood.

The deal for Quentin Tarantino's film was settled by Leone Film Group in Cannes, marking the very first time Rai Cinema will feature the director's piece. According to Rai Cinema executive Paolo Del Brocco, the Italian premiere of "The Hateful Eight" is slated in early 2016, after its Christmans release in the United States.

Deadline has previously noted that Tarantino's Civil War-era pic is getting an exclusive two-week U.S. roadshow in 70mm nationwide starting in December 25. The film will be competing with Alejandro Inarittu's "The Revenant" which stars Leonardo de Caprio. A digital theatrical release of "The Hateful Eight" is then slated to follow in January 8^th.

The forthcoming film will follow a gun-toting group of eight who are forced to take refuge in a mountain lodge after a vicious blizzard hits the area. As previously reported, it will star Samuel L. Jackson ("Avengers", "Barely Lethal"), Kurt Russell ("Furious 7", "Poseidon"), Jennifer Jason Leigh ("The Machinist", "The Spectacular Now"), Michael Madsen ("Sin City", "Free Willy"), Tim Roth ('Selma", "Planet of the Apes"), Walton Giggins ("Django Unchained", "Predators"), Bruce Dern ("Nebraska", "Django Unchained"), and Demian Bichir ("Savages", "Machete Kills").

Apart from "The Hateful Eight", Rai Cinema is also set to feature Bradley Cooper-starrer "Adam Jones," Martin Scorsese's "Silence," and Dennis Villeneuve's Cannes standout "Sicario" in its U.S. flicks line up.

As for Italian pics, Rai Cinema will be releasing Giuseppe Tornatore's previously announced upcoming romancer "The Correspondence", Marco Bellocchio's vampire pic "Blood of My Blood",  Claudio Cupellini's Italo-French co-prod "Alaska",  and Ferzan Ozpetek's Istanbul-set "Rosso Istanbul".