Though it might sound strange to say, given that he helmed a Best Picture-winning movie, director Steve McQueen is one of our more underrated filmmakers. He’s not a name that crops up often when talking about standout modern artists in his domain. However, even beyond his work on Best Picture victor, “12 Years A Slave,” McQueen has constantly shown off his filmmaking chops, including his versatile visual palette across all five “Small Axe” movies from 2020. McQueen’s exciting career is now set to expand with the 2024 motion picture, “Blitz.” McQueen and Apple Original Films have recently confirmed that this production will debut a bit deeper into the 2024 film festival circuit with an October 9th London Film Festival premiere, followed by a Closing Night North American Premiere at the 62nd New York Film Festival on October 10th.
What’s going on here? Why isn’t the latest McQueen going for a Venice, TIFF, or Telluride world premiere earlier in the awards season calendar? Why release it so late in the season?
First established in 1957, the London Film Festival is an annual event that’s become one of the world’s most prestigious destinations for cinema. In modern times, a slew of major motion pictures have opted to world premiere at this film festival, ranging from “Saving Mr. Banks” to “Frost/Nixon” and “They Shall Not Grow Old” to “Soul,” among many others. Typically, awards season contenders have used the London Film Festival as a high-profile additional screening space after buzzy Cannes, Venice, or TIFF world premieres. However, this staple of the British cinema space functions nicely as a world premiere locale in a pinch.
McQueen, born in London, England, is a fixture of this festival. His 2011 feature, “Shame,” was up for Best Film at LFF in 2011, while he won the British Film Institute fellowship award from the festival in 2016. The “Small Axe” entry “Mangrove” kicked off the 64th LFF in 2020, while fellow “Small Axe” installment “Lovers Rock” played at the same event that year. The London Film Festival isn’t the only cinematic gathering McQueen has a strong attachment to, nor is it the only major fall film festival where he’s garnered acclaim. It is, however, one he clearly has lots of connections to, making it a bit of an obvious launchpad for “Blitz.”
There’s also the subject matter of “Blitz,” which couldn’t be more British: “Blitz” takes place during World War II in London and chronicles a young boy and his mother (Academy Award-nominee Saoirse Ronan) trying to reunite against the backdrop of this enormous conflict. On paper, it sounds like “Empire of the Sun,” but the youngster journeying home is traveling parts of Britain. A British movie from a British filmmaker – that sure does sound like the recipe for a LFF premiere. This especially rings true considering past LFF world premieres like “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” or “Stan & Ollie” have some deep connection to the United Kingdom.
Now, let’s get to the thorniest topic of this whole debacle: Does an LFF premiere suggest that “Blitz” is inherently inferior, considering it didn’t premiere at Cannes, Venice, Telluride, or TIFF (all festivals McQueen has been to before)? Surely, after all, Apple would want to debut McQueen’s latest at TIFF or Telluride if it actually had confidence in its quality, right? Such predictions are, to put it gently, total poppycock. “Blitz” could be a disappointing movie. It could be an amazing movie. Its quality could be anything under the sun. Its premiere at LFF only offers insight into how it thematically resonates with the subject matter and its filmmaker. As “strange” as it may sound, one’s own personal impression of the finished product, not what film festival it’s debuting at, will solidify “Blitz’s” artistic merits.
Some trolls will claim that the LFF premiere innately suggests “Blitz” is something Apple is dumping because it’s debuting a month late into the fall film festival circuit. Again, that’s nonsense. Major motion pictures are constantly debuting even further into award season all the time to carve out a space for themselves rather than get catabolized by the onslaught wave of other contenders released during such a condensed period of time. In 2019, for instance, “Richard Jewell” and “Queen & Slim” premiered in mid-November at that year’s AFI Fest. Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” held its world premiere on the penultimate day of November 2016. “Hidden Figures” premiered in early December 2016, while Best Picture nominee, “Vice,” didn’t screen for the public until December 11th, 2018.
Considering this modern track record (which scratches the surface of late-in-the-game award season contenders), “Blitz” world premiering a few weeks after TIFF 2024 seems like business as usual. Again, “Blitz” could be one of McQueen’s more disappointing features (highly unlikely, given New York programmed it in their Closing Night slot). Still, any of its virtues or shortcomings will be because of its own artistic merits. Its failures won’t be emblematic of its launch in the domain where “Frost/Nixon” premiered before it went on to score a Best Picture nomination.
Inevitably, Apple will give “Blitz” a significant awards season marketing push since it’s one of the streamer’s few major contenders for Oscar consideration and other prizes this year. Unless “Wolfs” takes off like a rocket and/or Spike Lee gets “High and Low” done in time for a late 2024 launch (neither of which is impossible, for the record, but both seem unlikely), “Blitz” will be the biggest 2024-2025 awards player for Apple. A buzzy LFF premiere tied to McQueen’s hometown and “Blitz’s” backdrop once the earlier fall film festivals are out of the way could be a perfect ticket to get the ball rolling on a precious 2024 title for Apple and then continue at New York.
No matter what “Blitz’s” eventual awards season prospects are or its final quality, hopefully, the very existence of a new Steve McQueen movie allows us all the chance to appreciate this filmmaker’s legacy. His quieter earlier films like “Hunger” and “Shame” still resonate as such grueling yet intimate works of cinema. His 2018 film, “Widows,” is perhaps the best Michael Mann movie the “Heat” director never made. And those “Small Axe” features are all so glorious and artistically remarkable in such specific ways. Even beyond his Best Picture-winning film, “12 Years A Slave,” McQueen is a truly distinctive talent who deserves the benefit of the doubt from all of us in the awards space. We’ll see if “Blitz” continues his impressive, critically acclaimed streak after its LFF premiere in just a few months.
Are you surprised “Blitz“ is world premiering at LFF? Do you think it will be a major Oscar player for Apple? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and be sure to check out the Next Best Picture team’s latest Oscar predictions here.
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