September 5 Movie
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 12:04 am
I'm not sure whether this belongs here or in the Political Lounge, but I'll mention it here.
There is a new movie called September 5 which deals with the terrorists who kidnapped Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics and held them hostage in their rooms at the Olympic village. Eventually the terrorists and hostages boarded a bus for the airport where the hostages and most of the terrorists died in a shootout with German police. Unlike most media portrayals of the tragedy, September 5 does not focus on the terrorists, the hostages, or the police, but, instead the decisions that went on at ABC News about how to cover the event (ABC had exclusive TV rights to cover the Olympics that year.) Much of the film takes place in the control booth, and Roone Arledge and Peter Jennings are major characters in the film.
The movie received very good to excellent reviews and received or was nominated for a number of year-end critics awards (including a Golden Globe nomination for best picture). It has a good chance of getting Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay and Editing, with an outside chance of Best Picture. Like similar films, such as The Brutalist, it opened in December in a small number of theaters to qualify for the Oscars with wider release to hundreds of theaters scheduled for this weekend. Last weekend, it was playing in 20 theaters nationwide.
Within the last few days, local theaters across the country have cancelled scheduled showings of September 5 for this weekend. (That includes several in Atlanta.) I had planned to see the movie next week. Neither Paramount (the studio distributing the film) nor the theaters have given a reason. However, in the last couple of weeks, there has been a considerable backlash against the movie from various film festivals and a very vocal group of Alamo Drafthouse employees. They have called the movie pro-Zionist propaganda and demanded that it be pulled from various showings. That may be the reason that this weekend's release was scrubbed, or it may be that Paramount wanted to wait for the Oscar nominations to come out (they've been delayed for a week due to the LA fires) before releasing the movie. Ironically, on Paramount's website, they still list the movie on their homepage and claim it's opening wide this weekend.
I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know what sort of political statement it makes, if any. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the film is never going to play any wider in theaters unless it gets some major Oscar nominations (like for Best Film). If not, it will show up on Paramount Plus in another month or so.
There is a new movie called September 5 which deals with the terrorists who kidnapped Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics and held them hostage in their rooms at the Olympic village. Eventually the terrorists and hostages boarded a bus for the airport where the hostages and most of the terrorists died in a shootout with German police. Unlike most media portrayals of the tragedy, September 5 does not focus on the terrorists, the hostages, or the police, but, instead the decisions that went on at ABC News about how to cover the event (ABC had exclusive TV rights to cover the Olympics that year.) Much of the film takes place in the control booth, and Roone Arledge and Peter Jennings are major characters in the film.
The movie received very good to excellent reviews and received or was nominated for a number of year-end critics awards (including a Golden Globe nomination for best picture). It has a good chance of getting Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay and Editing, with an outside chance of Best Picture. Like similar films, such as The Brutalist, it opened in December in a small number of theaters to qualify for the Oscars with wider release to hundreds of theaters scheduled for this weekend. Last weekend, it was playing in 20 theaters nationwide.
Within the last few days, local theaters across the country have cancelled scheduled showings of September 5 for this weekend. (That includes several in Atlanta.) I had planned to see the movie next week. Neither Paramount (the studio distributing the film) nor the theaters have given a reason. However, in the last couple of weeks, there has been a considerable backlash against the movie from various film festivals and a very vocal group of Alamo Drafthouse employees. They have called the movie pro-Zionist propaganda and demanded that it be pulled from various showings. That may be the reason that this weekend's release was scrubbed, or it may be that Paramount wanted to wait for the Oscar nominations to come out (they've been delayed for a week due to the LA fires) before releasing the movie. Ironically, on Paramount's website, they still list the movie on their homepage and claim it's opening wide this weekend.
I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know what sort of political statement it makes, if any. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the film is never going to play any wider in theaters unless it gets some major Oscar nominations (like for Best Film). If not, it will show up on Paramount Plus in another month or so.