After having its release canceled at the beginning of the year in France, and bombing hard at the U.S. box office, “Ella McCay” skipped theaters and went straight to streaming on Disney+ France on February 5th.
This caused a bit of an uproar in the French cinephile community.
You see, the French loved “Ella McCay.” They really did. Cahiers du Cinéma loved it. Les Inrockuptibles loved it. Libération loved it. These are high-brow publications. In fact, James L. Brooks, director of “Broadcast News,” “Terms of Endearment,” and “Ss Goid As It Gets,” is an absolute legend over there — even his much-maligned “How Do You Know” was celebrated by the French.
All this to say, after much demand and in an unprecedented move, 20th Century Studios has announced that “Ella McCay” will finally receive an “exceptional” theatrical release in 100 theaters across France over two days, on May 15 and 16.
“I was deeply touched by the welcome reserved for “Ella McCay” in France, and I am very grateful to viewers for having expressed their desire to discover the film on the big screen,” Brooks said in a statement.
The film holds a 4.1/5 average rating on AlloCiné. Even the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma described it as a “harmonious delight,” contributing a glowing five-star review.
‘Ella’ grossed only $3M worldwide against a $35M budget. It was an outright bomb. The current aggregate tally stands at 23% on Rotten Tomatoes and 39 on Metacritic. Too bad French critics don’t count in these aggregates—their reviews could have significantly boosted these weak scores.
“Ella McCay” stars Emma Mackey as a young politician navigating the demands of family and career, supported by a stellar ensemble including Rebecca Hall, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Albert Brooks, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Lowden, and Spike Fearn.
Festival press conferences have turned into landmines of political questioning, to the point where some artists would probably prefer to turn down being a juror at Cannes, Venice, or Berlin.