Damien Chazelle’s Babylon will beat Santa to the Christmas punch by going wide on December 23. Initially, Babylon would have a limited release on Christmas Day in New York and Los Angeles before expanding wide in January. Now, the Chazelle-directed period piece is occupying prime holiday real estate and is competing against movies like 20th Century’s Avatar: The Way of Water and Universal/Dreamworks Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
According to the official synopsis for Babylon, the film is “an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, Babylon traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”
Babylon stars Brad Pitt (Fight Club, Bullet Train), Margot Robbie (The Suicide Squad, The Wolf of Wall Street), Diego Calva (I Promise You Anarchy, Narcos: Mexico), Jovan Adepo (Fences, Overlord), Jean Smart (Hacks, I Heart Huckabees), Li Jun Li (The Exorcist, Evil), P.J. Byrne (Cobra Kai, Shazam: Fury of the Gods), Lukas Haas (Inception, Witness), Olivia Hamilton (La La Land, First Man), Tobey Maguire (Cider House Rules, Spider-Man: No Way Home), Max Minghella (Spiral: From the Book of Saw, The Social Network), Rory Scovel (The House, Those Who Can’t), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Alien: Covenant), Flea (The Big Lebowski, Baby Driver), Jeff Garlin (The Goldbergs, Curb Your Enthusiasm), Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, The Dark Knight) Ethan Suplee (Remember the Titans, Mallrats), Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Guns Akimbo), and Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy, The Lazarus Effect).
We all know that Avatar: The Way of Water will be the film to beat this holiday. Do you think Babylon will come close to matching Avatar‘s numbers? Is that a silly question? Can celebrities shaking a tailfeather compete with blue cat people riding atop dinosaurs in a sci-fi fantasy setting? Probably not. We’ll find out when Babylon and Avatar: The Way of Water go toe-to-toe at the box office this holiday season. Let us know what you think of 20th Century’s Babylon wide release plan in the comments.
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