Ruben Östlund has finally revealed in-depth details about his upcoming film, “The Entertainment System Is Down,” a darkly comic disaster drama set aboard a long-haul flight from London to Sydney.
A key group of the passengers are boisterous Australian cricket fans returning home after Australia has lost a series to England. Östlund said the characters were inspired partly by the legend of Australian cricketer David Boon, who reportedly drank 52 cans of beer on a 1989 flight, as well as by Australian men he has observed around his holiday home in Majorca.
The central crisis begins when the plane’s entertainment system fails. To keep passengers occupied, the crew rig up a single communal screen and try to settle on a film everyone can watch. The passengers become divided between those willing to watch “Leviathan” by Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev and a larger group demanding an Adam Sandler comedy instead. Their inability to agree leads crew members to open part of the aircraft floor to repair the system, triggering a chain of events that ultimately compromises the plane.
As Östlund jokingly summarized it, the passengers’ refusal to watch “Leviathan” is effectively what causes the crash.
Beyond the film itself, Östlund has revealed plans for an unusual premiere by screening the movie during an actual airline flight in collaboration with an airline partner. According to reports, this would take place before the film’s official Cannes premiere in May 2027.
Östlund has not been shy about stating that “the goal with the next film is to win another [Palme d’Or],” which would make him the first director in history to win the prestigious prize three times. His first two Palme d’Or winners were “The Square” (2017) and “Triangle of Sadness” (2022).
“The Entertainment System Is Down” stars Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Keanu Reeves, Nicholas Braun, Samantha Morton, and Tobias Menzies. After a competitive bidding war, A24 acquired the film in 2024.
More recently, the Swedish filmmaker said that the sheer volume of footage shot during production has complicated the editing process. “I could just become completely mad and never stop editing the film.”
Having an insurance director is not uncommon in Hollywood. Aging filmmakers, in case a health issue arises, sometimes need to have one. It seems like that’s what might have occurred on “What Happens at Night.”