Paramount's Babylon is shifting release dates, abandoning its plans to open in limited release at Christmas, and instead heading to a wide release on December 23, releasing in the wake of Avatar: The Way of Water. The film was originally planned to go wide on January 6 before the changes.
Babylon is Damien Chazelle's latest work, following the critical acclaim and accolades that followed his previous films, Whiplash, La La Land and First Man. The director told Vanity Fair that he'd been ruminating on the idea for the movie since he first arrived in Los Angeles in 2007, stating that he wanted to pay his own tribute to the early years of what would become modern-day Hollywood. The film marks Chazelle's return to movies set in Los Angeles after La La Land, which starred Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and grossed an outstanding $439 million at the worldwide box office, as well as winning Best Actress and Best Director at the 89th Academy Awards, with Chazelle becoming the youngest winner of the directing trophy.
The film is headlined by Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, with Robbie portraying a wannabe actress who tries to work her way up the Hollywood ladder. It is set in 1920s Hollywood, around the transitional period where movies shifted from silent film to talkies, and will bring together a blend of fictional and historical figures, with Tobey Maguire being cast as Charlie Chaplin. Filming concluded in October 2021 and Collider reported the film would also include actors portraying Hollywood's first “It” girl Clara Bow, actor Anna May Wong, writer Elinor Glynand studio boss Irving Thalberg.
The stacked cast for the film also includes Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Jovan Adepo, Katherine Waterston, Flea, Lukas Haas, Rory Scovel, P.J. Byrne, Spike Jonze, Chloe Fineman, Jeff Garlin, and Max Minghella. Having already worked with Chazelle previously on La La Land, Stone was once attached to the project but was forced to abandon it due to scheduling conflicts, allowing Robbie to take over the role. The absolute scale of the film has led to it having an advertised running time of three hours and five minutes.
You can check out the trailer for Babylon, and witness the sheer spectacle and excess Chazelle promises, down below: