Until Dawn (film)

Until Dawn is a 2023 American mystery, horror-suspense film directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, who produced it with Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Jon Kilik, stars an ensemble cast that includes Remi Malek, Hayden Panettiere, Noah Fleiss, Galadriel Stineman, Nicole Sakura, Bratt Dalton, Mahegan Martin and Ella Letini, as a group of young adults who have to survive the strange supernatural events of Blackwood Pines. The film also stars Jenny Slate and Aaron Lazar in supporting roles.

It is based on an original story by Fessenden and Reznick influenced by contemporary slasher films. Ideas for the film began in 1999, when the premise was conceived by Fessenden's treatments during his work on Wendigo (2001), with the intention of releasing it sometime in 2004, seeking collaborators for early concepts, Reznick contacted him and they wrote an initial script. There was a drafting process caused delays in the project. Preproduction began in 2020, when A24 agreed to plans to take the project on a creative self-funding basis. The filming process was taken as separate films, but it was carried out back to back. Production for Until Dawn began in Simi Valley, California on February 1, 2021 and wrapped on November 15.

Until Dawn premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2023, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 27, 2023, before a wide release by Manhattan-based A24 on March 31. The film was widely acclaimed for its script, direction, acting, visual effects, costume design, action sequences, musical score, and editing, but was criticized for its lack of originality. It grossed over $370 million worldwide, surpassing A24's previous best-ever grossing film, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).

Premise
Eight young adults are forced to survive until dawn after forming a meeting at the private Blackwood Mountain resort unaware that dark forces are lurking.

Theatrical
The world premiere was at the South by Southwest film festival on March 3, 2023. Its limited release in theaters was on March 27, 2023, and its nationwide release was on March 31, in the United States by A24. On April 14, 2023, the film was released in select IMAX theaters in the U.S. due to its popularity and had additional re-expansions on September 1, 2023 and January 26, 2024.

Home media
The film was released on digital streaming platforms on July 12, 2023, and was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 23, 2023, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Box office
Until Dawn has grossed $217.5 million in the United States and Canada and $152.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $369.9 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.5 million from 26 venues in its opening weekend, a record for A24. In its second weekend, the film received a wide expansion to 2.809 theaters, grossed $32.4 million finishing second at the box office. The overperformance was attributed to the film's positive reviews and marketing, with advance ticket sales on Fandango outpacing in a 105% compared to Hereditary (2018). In its third weekend, the film made $21.7 million, dropping 32% and finishing third at the box office. In its fourth weekend, received an IMAX 3D release following its successful run up to that point, adding $17.1 million (a drop of -21%). On April 11, it crossed the $80.1 million, surpassing Everything Everywhere All At Once ($77 million) as A24's highest-grossing film domestically. The film crossed the $100 million mark on April 23 and the $200 million mark on July 16, the first film to cross both brands for A24 at the domestic box office. It remained in the box office top ten until its sixteenth weekend, which ended on July 9 and ended its theatrical run on August 13.

Internationally, it became A24's highest-grossing film in every market it was released in. The top-grossing territories were the United Kingdom ($24.4 million), France ($19.3 million), Australia ($17.5 million), South Korea ($14.8 million), Mexico ($13.8 million), Germany ($9.6 million) and the Netherlands ($3.1 million).

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 99% based on 419 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Even with concepts already seen, Until Dawn is a spectacle of suspense and drama calibrated to the maximum." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 65 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".