Who here has confidence that Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” will deliver the goods?
“Blitz,” produced by Apple Studios, is the most expensive film of McQueen’s career. It’s set to release in select cinemas on November 1 before going to Apple TV+ on November 22, just three weeks after its theatrical launch.
Many were wondering who Apple would partner with on the theatrical release of “Blitz,” and the answer turns out to be the most unpredictable one. The InSneider is being told that Variance Films has come aboard to help Apple with the theatrical rollout of McQueen’s film.
Founded in 2008 by Dylan Marchetti, Variance Films is best known for releasing S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” in 2022. They also handled the sub-distribution of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and Spike Lee’s “Red Hook Summer.”
Before Sneider’s report, many studios were being theorized as partnering with Apple on “Blitz,” including Searchlight, Paramount and Sony. Absolutely nobody expected Variance to be the one.
“Blitz” is a WWII epic starring Elliott Heffernan, Saoirse Ronan and Harris Dickinson —the story is based on an original idea by McQueen. A trailer was unveiled last week. The PG-13 rated film takes place during the German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940.
It’s been described to me as a “hero’s journey” about a 9-year-old boy (Heffernan) trying to get back home to his mother (Ronan), while exploring Britain during WWII. The film is intercut with sequences of the mother searching for her son.
As I’ve mentioned, a few times, “Blitz” is one of the last remaining Oscar contenders left to be screened this fall. The others are “Gladiator II,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Here,” “Juror No. 2,” and “Nosferatu.”
I actually find that number optimistic. Tickets for “Digger” go on sale next Tuesday, and presales will give us a better picture of how bad it’s looking.