For the first time in three years, the fall movie industrial complex is lurching back into high gear. Festival red carpets are rolled out. Oscar campaigns are primed. Long-awaited blockbusters, like and are poised for big box office.
But after the tumult of the pandemic, can the fall movie season just go back to way it was? Many are hoping it can. After two springtime editions, the Academy Awards have returned to . The Golden Globes, after near-cancellation, . Some movies, too, are trying to recapture a before-times spirit. At the Toronto Film Festival in September, Rian Johnson鈥檚 鈥淕lass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,鈥� has booked the same theater 鈥淜nives Out鈥� premiered to a packed house almost exactly three years ago.
鈥淪eems like yesterday,鈥� Johnson says, laughing. 鈥淥K, a few things have happened.鈥�
After an all-but-wiped-out 2020 autumn and a 2021 season hobbled by the delta and omicron COVID-19 variants, this fall could, maybe, just maybe be something more like the normal annual cultural revival that happens every fall, when most of the year鈥檚 best movies arrive.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all, I think, just trying to will it into existence as at least some version of what we knew before,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淎s with everything, you kind of just have to dive into the pool and see what the water鈥檚 like. I鈥檓 really hoping that at least the illusion of normalcy holds. I guess that鈥檚 all normalcy is.鈥�
But 鈥淕lass Onion,鈥� with Daniel Craig鈥檚 Benoit Blanc in a new mystery, is also a reminder of how much has changed. After 鈥淜nives Out鈥� was a box-office hit for Lionsgate, grossing $311 million worldwide for Lionsgate, Netflix shelled out $450 million to snap up the rights to two sequels. And while exhibitors and the streaming company discussed a larger theatrical release for 鈥淕lass Onion鈥� 鈥� a surefire hit if it did 鈥� a more modest rollout in theaters is expected before the films lands Dec. 23 on Netflix.
The balance between theatrical and streaming remains unsettled. But after and , theatrical moviegoing 鈥� with its billions in annual ticket sales and cultural footprint 鈥� is looking pretty good. For the first time in years, moviegoing has a strong wind at its back. Or at least it did until due largely to a dearth of new wide releases.
鈥淚f you look at how many movies we had compared to what business we did, we were operating at 2019 levels,鈥� says John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners. 鈥淲e had 70% of the supply of wide-release movies in the first seven months and we did 71% of the business we did in the same period in 2019. Moviegoers are back in pre-pandemic numbers, it鈥檚 just we still need more movies.鈥�
That will be less of an issue as the fall season ramps up. 鈥淲akanda Forever鈥� (Nov. 11) and 鈥淭he Way of the Water鈥� (Dec. 16) may each vie with the summer smash 鈥淭op Gun: Maverick鈥� ($1.36 billion worldwide and still counting) for the year鈥檚 top film. Less clear, though, is if the fall鈥檚 robust slate of adult-driven films and Oscar contenders can once again drive moviegoing. from Apple TV+, ran the awards gauntlet without a cent of box office.
Among the most anticipated films hitting the fall festival circuit and theaters are Steven Spielberg鈥檚 semi-autobiographical 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� (Nov. 23); 鈥淏londe鈥� (Sept. 23), starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe; Todd Fields鈥� 鈥淭脕R鈥� (Oct. 7), with Cate Blanchett; Sam Mendes鈥� 鈥淓mpire of Light鈥� (Dec. 9); 鈥淭he Son鈥� (Nov. 11), Florian Zeller鈥檚 follow-up to 鈥淭he Father鈥�; Chinonye Chukwu鈥檚 Emmett Till saga 鈥淭ill鈥� (Oct. 14); Martin McDonagh鈥檚 鈥淭he Banshees of Inisherin鈥� (Oct. 21); James Gray鈥檚 鈥淎rmageddon Time鈥� (Oct. 28); and (Oct. 7).
Superhero films (鈥淏lack Adam,鈥� Oct. 21, starring Dwayne Johnson), kids movies (鈥淟yle Lyle Crocodile,鈥� Oct. 7), horror flicks (鈥淗alloween Ends,鈥� Oct. 14) rom-coms (鈥淭icket to Paradise,鈥� Oct. 21, with Julia Roberts and George Clooney) and more high-flying adventures (鈥淒evotion,鈥� Nov. 23) will also mix in, as will prominent titles from streamers. Those include Amazon鈥檚 鈥淢y Policeman鈥� (Oct. 21), with Harry Styles; and Netflix releases 鈥淏ardo鈥� (in theaters Nov. 4), by Alejandro Gonz谩lez I帽谩rritu; 鈥淲hite Noise鈥� (in theaters Nov. 25) by Noah Baumbach; and Guillermo del Toro鈥檚 鈥淧inocchio鈥� (streaming Dec. 9).
But if much of the fall movie season is about restoring what was lost the last few years, for some upcoming movies, change is the point. 鈥淲oman King鈥� (Sept. 16), directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood and starring Viola Davis, is muscular fact-based epic about a West African army of female warriors. To Prince-Blythewood, the filmmaker of 鈥淟ove & Basketball鈥� and 鈥淭he Old Guard,鈥� 鈥淲oman King鈥� represents 鈥渢he chance to reframe what it means to be female and feminine.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have ever seen a movie like this before. So much of our history has been hidden or ignored or erased,鈥� says Blythewood. 鈥溾�楤raveheart,鈥� 鈥楪ladiator,鈥� 鈥楲ast of the Mohicans.鈥� I love those movies. Now, here was our chance to tell our story in this genre.鈥�
鈥淏ros鈥� (Sept. 30), too, is something different. The film, starring and co-written by 鈥淏illy on the Street鈥� comedian Billy Eichner, is the first gay rom-com by a major studio (Universal). All of its principal cast members are LGBTQ. Comedies have struggled in theaters in recent years but 鈥淏ros,鈥� produced by Judd Apatow, hopes a new perspective will enliven a familiar genre.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a historic movie in many ways,鈥� says Eichner. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not something we thought about when we were first developing it. Nobody sits down and says, 鈥楲et鈥檚 write a historic movie.鈥� We said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 make a hilarious movie.鈥� It will make people laugh but it鈥檚 unlike anything the vast majority of people have seen.鈥�
鈥淏ros鈥� and 鈥淲oman King鈥� are productions meant to challenge the status quo of Hollywood. That鈥檚 also part of the nature of 鈥淪he Said鈥� (Nov. 18), a dramatization of New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey鈥檚 investigation into movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Sarah Polley鈥檚 鈥淲omen Talking鈥� (Dec. 2) likewise chronicles a real-life female uprising. It鈥檚 based on events from 2009, when Bolivian Mennonite women gathered together after having been drugged and raped by the men in their colony.
Olivia Wilde鈥檚 buzzed-about 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Darling,鈥� starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as a married couple living in a 1950s-style suburban nightmare-slash-male fantasy, approaches some similar themes through a science-fiction lens.
鈥淚 want to make something that is just really entertaining and fun and interesting, but actually is my way of provoking conversations about real issues like body autonomy,鈥� says Wilde. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know it would be as timely as it is right now. Never in my wildest nightmares did I believe Roe would have been overturned right before the release of this film.鈥�
Other movie production timelines seem to exist almost apart from our earthly reality. James Cameron鈥檚 鈥淎vatar: The Way of the Water鈥� will debut 13 years after 2009鈥檚 鈥淎vatar鈥� (still the highest grossing film ever), a follow-up originally scheduled for release in 2014. Since then, that the sequels 鈥� four films are now slated to launch in the next five years 鈥� have sometimes seemed like blockbuster Godots that might forever wait in the wings.
Speaking from the New Zealand where 鈥淭he Way of the Water鈥� was being mixed and scored, producer Jon Landau promised the wait is, in fact, nearly over.
鈥淭his is finally happening,鈥� said Landau. 鈥淭hose delays, as you would call them, were really about us creating a foundation for a saga of movies. It wasn鈥檛 about going: 鈥楲et鈥檚 get one script right.鈥� It was about: 鈥楲et鈥檚 get four scripts right.鈥欌��
Measuring the change in the movie industry is even harder when it comes to the span in between 鈥淎vatar鈥� installments. When the first 鈥淎vatar鈥� was in theaters, 3-D was being billed (again) as the future. Barack Obama was in the first year of his first term. Netflix was renting DVDs by mail.
鈥淎 lot has changed but a lot hasn鈥檛,鈥� says Landau. 鈥淥ne of the things that has not changed is: Why do people turn to entertainment today? Just like they did when the first 鈥楢vatar鈥� was released, they do it to escape, to escape the world in which we live.鈥�
鈥擩ake Coyle, The Associated Press
