Hollywood’s top studios brought some of their biggest upcoming releases to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with premieres that provided an early indication of their potential reception. Disney/Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY was screened early on in the 12-day festival and met with a lukewarm reception from both critics and other festival attendees.
The festival concluded with a screening of Disney/Pixar’s animated ELEMENTAL, which also received mixed reviews. Disney has pinned its hopes on a successful run for ELEMENTAL, representing renewed strength for its animated features, after a disastrous 2022 in which both Pixar’s LIGHTYEAR and Disney’s STRANGE WORLD met with weak interest and lost more than $100M.
Outside of Disney, new releases from two of the industry’s best-known auteurs also premiere at Cannes. Focus Features premiered Wes Anderson’s ASTEROID CITY, which also received a mixed response. While some critics commented that ASTEROID was more style than substance, others praised it as another fine example of Anderson’s one-of-a-kind filmmaking.
Moviegoers will soon have their chance to settle the debate when the film opens on June 23rd. Martin Scorsese was the big winner at this year’s Cannes when the screening of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON was met with unanimous praise, as another great entry for Scorsese and the all-star cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and Lily Gladstone.
Apple owns the distribution rights and has enlisted the support of Paramount to manage a theatrical run that will begin on October 20th. It seems likely that FLOWER MOON will be one of the top candidates for major awards in next year’s cycle.
See also: First Elemental Reviews Are Mixed On Pixar’s Beautiful & “Overcomplicated” New Movie (Screen Rant) and Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ Has Sharply Divided Cannes (Rolling Stone)
