A24 has acquired the rights to Ruben Östlund’s ‘The Entertainment System Is Down,’ starring Kirsten Dunst (Civil War) and Keanu Reeves (John Wick: Chapter 4). According to Variety, the deal, which A24 made, was an eight-figure acquisition of the U.S. rights to the film.
The film also stars Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun, and Samantha Morton. Filming is scheduled to begin in early 2025.
According to ‘The Entertainment System Is Down’ logline, “Set on a long-haul flight where the entertainment system fails, the film will see passengers forced to face the horror of being bored.”
In a press conference, Östlund said, “We wanted to have a real airplane because very often, when you watch an airplane movie, characters are put in a corner, pretending to be on a big flight but we don’t really see it.” Östlund added, “It’s f—ing frustrating!”
Östlund continued, “This time, when we will see the couple argueing, there will be like 300 people in that shot.” he added, “Then we will use the whole airplane, not just a section, so that we can walk from the cockpit all the way to the back, with a long tracking shot, we will get the feeling of being in this space.”
The upcoming project will be Ruben Östlund’s second English-language film and seventh overall. His previous works include The Guitar Mongoloid (2004), Involuntary (2008), Play (2011), Force Majeure (2014), The Square (2017), and Triangle of Sadness (2022). Östlund won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for his last two films, making him one of the few directors to achieve this twice. The film will be a Swedish-German-French co-production, reuniting Östlund with his longtime colleagues, producer Erik Hemmendorff of Plattform Produktion and producer Philippe Bober from Paris-based Coproduction Office, which is also handling world sales.
‘The Entertainment System Is Down’ release date is TBA.
