Neon Desperately Trying to Push Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’ Into Awards Season

A peculiar piece over at Deadline concerned Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” a drama about “systemic racism” starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

Neon picked up the film in early September, they clearly saw something in it that justified the seven-figure acquisition. The film screened at Venice, TIFF and a few other fall fests, and the reviews have been good, but not great.

The film has been marketed and campaigned by Neon as an awards player, but hasn’t really picked up much steam. Did you even know that “Origin” is three weeks away from its theatrical release? Not many people are talking about it, which is why Neon’s decided to stir things up by tipping Deadline that “Origin” was the highest tested movie in Neon history.

Origin landed a 91 total positive in the top two boxes with an 81 definite recommend in its audience testing, outstripping Neon’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and 2020 Best Picture Oscar winner, Parasite, which clocked a 91 total positive and 73 definite recommend, as well as the studio’s other Oscar winner, I, Tonya, which earned an 88 total positive, and 68 definite recommend.

Deadline further embellishes the hype by adding, “We understand that the focus groups who remain after an Origin test screening are emotionally in tears, moved by what they’ve just seen, with deep conversations with other moviegoers on the pic’s social issues.”

Talk about hyperbole.

Why even report about test-screen hype when the film has already been seen by hundreds of critics, not to mention thousands of moviegoers. You would think, based on what Deadline and Neon want to project, that “Origin” has been playing like gangbusters, but it hasn’t. Its 3.4 rating on Letterboxd, based on 1k votes, does not give any indication of a major player.

Will “Origin” shake up the Oscar race? As it stands, I really can’t see that happening, but I guess, crazier things have happened in the past. DuVernay is set to take part in quite a few Guild Q&A’s starting this week.

The movie has an awards qualifying release in LA and NYC on December 8 before opening wide on January 19. A trailer for “Origin” was released this past September.