Until Dawn (film)

Until Dawn is a 2023 American mystery horror suspense film directed by Darren Aronofsky from a screenplay written by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick who produced it with Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Jon Kilik. Co-produced by A24, Fruit Tree and Glass Eye Pix, it is a live-action adaptation of 2015 Sony PlayStation's video game of the same name. The film stars ensemble cast that includes Remi Malek, Hayden Panettiere, Noah Fleiss, Galadriel Stineman, Nicole Sakura, Bratt Dalton, Mahegan Martin and Ella Letini. Until Dawn follows a group of eight young adults who, following a tragedy that killed two of their friends, return to the private Blackwood Pines resort unaware that they will have to survive strange supernatural events and a masked killer.

Original plans for the film began with an 1999's original story by Fessenden during his work on Wendigo (2001). When his use the treatment to write the script for the horror PlayStation game in 2012, he becomes interested in the idea of ​​a live-action film adaptation. Until Dawn were confirmed in May 2019. In December, Fessenden announced that he would direct the film, writing along with his partner Reznick. Malek, Fleiss and Dalton and the rest of the cast signed on between July to November 2020. Filming ultimately took place primarily at Simi Valley, California and in the island of Endgland, from October 2021 to March 2022 at the hands of A24, as a process of on a creative self-funding basis. Composer Michelle DiBucci, who worked on the original film's soundtrack, returned to compose the score from Fessenden's other works.

Until Dawn premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2023, and was released in the United States on March 31 in conventional theaters by A24. Critics praised the performances of the cast (particularly those of Malek, Panettiere and Dalton), script, the action sequences and vissual effects, but criticized its lack of originality.

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.

Cast
A mysterious and complex film enthusiast. Though considerate, caring, and complex, he suffers from depression and psychosis after struggling to cope with the disappearance of his sisters. Also, Ella Lentini plays the twins Hannah and Beth Washington. Writer Larry Fessenden stars as Jack Fiddler, a mysterious hermit who follows the group from the shadowsn and Peter Stormare plays Alan Hill, a semi-narrator.
 * Remi Malek as Josh Washintong:
 * Hayden Panettiere as Sam Giddings: A pacifist who loves nature, her friends, and is happy acting as the group's mediator.
 * Noah Fleiss as Chris Hartley: A methodical and analytical nerd with a tendency to clown around and pull pranks. He has a cursh with Ashley.
 * Galadriel Stineman as Ashley Brown: A curious academic girl with a great imagination who loves books and scares quite easily. She has a mutual crush on Chris, she is impulsive and observant.
 * Nichole Sakura as Emily Davis: A brash and driven fashion lover who uses her smarts to adamantly get her way.
 * Jordan Fisher as Matt Taylor: A motivated, gentle - yet fiercely protective - young sportsman.
 * Brett Dalton as Mike Munroe: A popular, driven young man who is a fan of women, attention, and taking matters into his own hands.

Music
The musical score was composed by Michelle DiBucci, who had previously worked with Fessenden on Wendigo. DiBucci said, "I think the whole image is a spiritual representation of what the movie is about." It took DiBucci four years to compose the score, from the film's initial announcement in 2019, which includes more than a hundred music tracks. The soundtrack album consists of 49 tracks and runs for over three hours. Two songs, "In The Cave" and "Blackwood" were released as singles on March 15 and 27, 2023. The album was released on March 25 to positive critical response.

The film features multiple instances of the Melanie Martinez song "Milk of the Siren" released alongside her delux edition-studio album Portals in March 2023. When the director contacted the singer about her involvement in the film, Martinez enthusiastically agreed to lend some of her album tracks to the studio, and enthusiastically agreed to record three alternate versions of the song for use in the film. The song also appears in the end credits of the film.

Marketing
Until Dawn had a higher-than-average marketing effort for A24, spending approximately $79 million on impressions and advertisements for the film and was rated as one of the reasons for his initial financial success. This included unique trailers, unconventional billboards and an extensive social media presence. A first trailer was released in January 2023, which preceded a December campaign with new images, a short film and posters, with move to partner with companies like People, JoBlo.com, Fandango and Mashable. A 30-second commercial for the film was aired during the US football championship Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023. The trailer racked up 31.1 million views across all social media. The magazine Box Office said the film's trailer was well received online and was frequently featured in trailers for all the notable blockbusters. Writing: "The horror genre has also shown a knack for exceeding expectations at the box office in recent years in the era of the pandemic, setting up this release for a potential midsize hit." The social reach of the film during the wide opening weekend of March 31, amounted to 244.1 million interactions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Emma Gray Ellis of Wired.com described the campaign as "crazy and relentless for an arty horror film" waging a "marketing siege for teen and young adult ages 25 and up." Bobby Anhalt at Screen Rant called it arguably "one of the best movie marketing campaigns in horror movie history propelling the studio into a more expansive market" and a "major media and public victory for A24 and everyone involved".

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. This was followed by staggered releases in a further 49 markets through May 17. On April 14, 2023, the film was released in select IMAX theaters in the U.S. due to its popularity. The film was re-released in U.S. theaters on July 28, 2022 and had additional re-expansions on September 1, 2023 and January 26, 2024. Despite being blocked in China during this initial release, Until Dawn was finally released in the country during the 2023 Beijing International Film Festival.

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
As of April 2, 2023, Until Dawn has grossed $32.5 million in the United States and Canada and $16.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $48.9 million, against a production budget of $15 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.5 million from 48 venues in its first weekend. In its second weekend, Until Dawn—received a wide expansion alongside Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, His Only Son and A Thousand and One—was projected to gross $15–25 million from 3,980 theaters, the widest-ever release for an A24 film. The film made $12.5 million on its wide opening day and $32.4 million in the weekend, making it the largest opening for an A24 title in history. The overperformance was attributed to the film's SXSW premiere, marketing and good word-of-mouth, with advance ticket sales from independent box office analysts outpacing Hereditary (2018) by 105%. Outside of the U.S. and Canada the opening weekend box office results met expectations. It opened in 18 countries (including the United Kingdom and Italy) grossing $16.8 million worldwide.

Critical response
Until Dawn received universal acclaim from film critics and worldwide audiences. 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". Audiences polled by PostTrak gave it an 94% positive score, with 81% saying that they would definitely recommend it and received a CinemaScore of A+, on a scale from A+ to F-.

David Ehrlich of IndieWire called the film a "drama of slapped genius", praising the direction, performances and setting, calling it an "incredible acting score". The Hollywood Reporter 's David Rooney called it a "frenetically plotted serve of stoner heaven [that] is insanely imaginative and often a lot of fun", complimenting the cast and score but found the handling of the story's underlying theme underwhelming. In her review for RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates lauded Maleks' performance, writing, "Malek as an anchor of the film, given a role that showcases his wide range of talents, from a pleasant beginning to a cynical and lugubrious presentation, with his ability to excavate infinite depths of rich human emotions, often with just a look or a reaction." For The A.V. Club, A.A. Dowd gave the film an A−, stating that, "In its seriousness and hair-raising craftsmanship, Until Dawn belongs to a proud genre lineage, a legacy that stretches back to the towering touchstones of American horror, unholy prestige-zeitgeist classics like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. Remarkably, it's a first feature, the auspicious debut of writer-director Ari Aster, whose acclaimed, disturbing short films were all leading, like a tunnel into the underworld, to this bleak vision." Common Sense Media gave the film four out of five stars and advised that it was suitable for viewers aged 17 or older.