One of the most anticipated presumed Oscar contenders, and one of the very few remaining to debut before year-end, dropped last night with the first screening of Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle’s Babylon.
Paramount’s big Christmas release, and hopeful awards magnet chose the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theatre for the unveiling in front of entertainment pundits, industry members, and most importantly guild and Oscar voters, a perfect venue with both sides of the massive screen bookended by those imposing large Oscar statues.
In addition to the screening there was a post Q&A with Chazelle and stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Tobey Maguire followed by a dessert reception in the lobby.
Reviews of the December 23rd wide release are embargoed for at least a month (Paramount has not chosen the exact date yet but expect mid-December at the earliest), but the studio was encouraging social media reaction – and got it with some mixed twitter response and instant analysis from awards pundits, but from my own unscientific survey among actual Oscar voters I talked to (and there were quite a few ready to offer up their opinions) , it was largely an enthusiastic reception for the movie that takes some very big swings.
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