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Three Thousand Years of Longing

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Three Thousand Years of Longing
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Miller
Screenplay by
  • George Miller
  • Augusta Gore[1]
Based on"The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye"
by A. S. Byatt
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byMargaret Sixel
Music byTom Holkenborg[2]
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 20, 2022 (2022-05-20) (Cannes)
  • August 26, 2022 (2022-08-26) (United States)
  • September 1, 2022 (2022-09-01) (Australia)
Running time
108 minutes[3]
Countries
  • United States
  • Australia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[4][5]
Box office$20.3 million[6]

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a 2022 fantasy romantic drama film directed and produced by George Miller. Written by Miller and Augusta Gore, it is based on the short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" by A. S. Byatt and stars Idris Elba as a djinn who is unleashed from a bottle by a professor (Tilda Swinton) and tells her stories from his thousands of years of existence. The film is dedicated to Miller's mother Angela, as well as Rena Mitchell, relative of producer Doug Mitchell.

The film premiered out of competion at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2022, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. It was released theatrically in the United States on August 26, 2022, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (via United Artists Releasing), and in Australia on September 1, 2022, by Roadshow Entertainment. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visuals and performances, but was a box-office bomb, grossing $20 million on a budget of $60 million.

Plot

Alithea Binnie is a British narratology scholar who occasionally suffers from hallucinations of demonic beings. During a trip to Istanbul, Alithea purchases an antique bottle and unleashes the Djinn trapped within it. The Djinn offers to grant Alithea three wishes, so long as each one is truly her heart's desire, but Alithea argues that wishing is a mistake, accusing the Djinn of being a trickster. She tells him that when she was a child, she built herself an imaginary friend in the form of young boy and even imagined his whole life (which she wrote in a diary) but she finally decided to forget about him, fearing to be overwhelmed by her own imagination. In response, the Djinn proceeds to tell her three tales of his past and how he ended up trapped in the bottle.

The Djinn tells the story of the Queen of Sheba, his cousin and lover, being wooed by King Solomon, who imprisons the Djinn in a bottle which is cast into the Red Sea by a bird. The Djinn's second story centers on Gülten, a concubine in the palace of Suleiman the Magnificent. After finding the Djinn's bottle, Gülten wishes for Suleiman's son, Mustafa, to fall in love with her and subsequently wishes to bear his child. Hürrem Sultan, a favored concubine of Suleiman, schemes to have her son on the throne and convinces Suleiman that Mustafa is conspiring against him; this results in Mustafa's murder. Despite the Djinn's attempts to save her, the pregnant Gülten is also killed by drowning on Suleiman's orders before she can make her final wish.

The Djinn wanders the palace for over 100 years, invisible due to the concealment of the bottle. He almost captures the attention of Murad IV, but the latter goes to war and becomes a vicious and ruthless ruler, later dying from alcoholism. His brother Ibrahim becomes the new sultan and develops a fetish for fat concubines. His favorite among them, Sugar Lump, uncovers the bottle after slipping, whereupon the Djinn appears to her and desperately begs her to make a wish. Sugar Lump thinks him a trickster and wishes for the Djinn to be reimprisoned in his bottle at the bottom of the Bosporus.

In the Djinn's final story, he tells of Zefir, the wife of a Turkish merchant, who is given the bottle after it is recovered in the mid-19th century. Zefir wishes first for knowledge, which the Djinn grants in the form of literature, and later to perceive the world as djinns do. Despite the Djinn's growing affection for Zefir and the fact she is now pregnant with his child, she grows increasingly crowded by his presence and her newfound knowledge. The Djinn offers to reside in his bottle whenever she wishes, but Zefir wishes to forget she met the Djinn, leaving him imprisoned and unknown once again. The Djinn's final story moves Alithea to the point where she wishes for the Djinn and herself to fall in love, resulting in them having sex.

Afterwards, the Djinn and Alithea decide to travel back to London together. At the airport Alithea has placed the Djinn inside a saltshaker bottle and placed the bottle without the top in one pocket and the top in her other pocket which sets off the sensors when she goes through airport security. An airport security officer investigates the saltshaker by placing a pencil inside and then places the top on the bottle, which he sends through the X-ray machine despite Alithea’s pleas.

One day, Alithea discovers that the Djinn is gradually becoming weaker due to the effects that the city's cell tower and satellite transmissions have when interacting with his electromagnetic physiology. She uses her second wish to get the severely ill Djinn to speak again, apologizes for using her wish to deny them the chance to fall in love naturally, and uses her third and final wish to set the Djinn free, so he is able to return to "The Realm of Djinn".

Three years later, Alithea has written a book containing all the stories that the Djinn told her, like she once did with her childhood imaginary friend. Though expecting never to see him again, the now-healthy Djinn visits Alithea three years later and periodically returns throughout her lifetime.

Cast

The film stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

Production

Director, co-writer and co-producer George Miller

It was announced in October 2018 that George Miller had set his next directorial effort, described as "epic in scope" and expected to begin filming in 2019.[8] Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton were announced as cast members the same month.[9] The film is based on A. S. Byatt's short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye."[10]

In a July 2019 interview, Miller said that pre-production would begin in late 2019, and that filming would begin on March 2, 2020, between Australia, Turkey and the United Kingdom.[11][12][13] Filming was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[14] and began in November 2020 in Australia.[15]

Release

In May 2020, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (via United Artists Releasing) acquired the film's North American distribution rights, with Metropolitan Filmexport and Sunac Culture handling distribution in France and China respectively.[16][17] Roadshow Entertainment handled the Australian distribution,[18] while Entertainment Film Distributors handled distribution in the United Kingdom.[19]

The film premiered out of competion at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2022, where it received a six-minute standing ovation.[17][20] An activist protesting sexual violence perpetrated by Russian soldiers in Ukraine appeared at the premiere and stripped nude while screaming before being removed by Cannes security.[21] The film's first trailer was also released that day.[22]

The film's scheduled release date of August 31, 2022, in the United States, was moved up to August 26.[23] It was released in Australia on September 1, 2022.

MGM and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the film for VOD on November 1, 2022, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD and 4K UHD release on November 15, 2022.[24]

Reception

Box office

Three Thousand Years of Longing grossed $8.3 million in the United States and Canada,[25] and $12 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.3 million,[6] against a production budget of $60 million.[4][5]

In the United States and Canada, it was released alongside The Invitation and Breaking.[5] It made $1.4 million on its first day[26] and went on to debut with $2.9 million from 2,436 theaters on its opening weekend.[27] Variety called it "a terrible result for a movie that's playing in thousands of theaters across the country", and noted that it would be one of the biggest box office bombs of 2022, with industry experts blaming lack of marketing and the wide-release strategy.[28] TheWrap, while acknowledging its box office underperformance, noted the film could still turn a profit for MGM after it went to streaming, as the company spent only $6 million on domestic distribution rights.[29] In its second weekend, the film made $1.5 million (and a total of $1.9 million over the four-day Labor Day frame), dropping 47.1% and finishing 13th.[30]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 71% of 254 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Although its story isn't as impressive as its visual marvels, it's hard not to admire Three Thousand Years of Longing's sheer ambition."[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[26]

Peter Debruge of Variety said: "These days, audiences are so savvy about the tricks at a filmmaker's disposal that the movie's greatest achievement is that it seizes our imagination (or perhaps that's our attention deficit disorder being so brusquely manhandled) and holds it for the better part of two hours, defying us to anticipate what comes next."[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Utichi, Joe (May 17, 2022). "Inside George Miller's 20-Year Quest To Make 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing', As 'Furiosa' Revs Her Engines – Cannes". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  2. ^ "Mad Max: Fury Road Composer Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL) on Reuniting With George Miller for Three Thousand Years of Longing". Below the Line. December 6, 2022.
  3. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing (15)". BBFC. August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022. Cinema 107m 53s
  4. ^ a b Endre, Dora (March 21, 2022). "Three Thousand Years of Longing: Everything We Know So Far". MovieWeb. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Rubin, Rebecca (August 24, 2022). "Box Office: Box Office: Three New Movies Slink Into Theaters, With Limited Expectations". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  7. ^ "Sabrina Dhowre Elba". IMDb.
  8. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (October 25, 2018). "AFM Hot Pic: George Miller To Direct Movie Epic 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing', FilmNation To Launch Sales". Deadline Hollywood.
  9. ^ Kit, Borys (October 25, 2018). "Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton to Star in George Miller's Epic Love Story 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  10. ^ Mathai, Jeremy (May 18, 2022). "Three Thousand Years Of Longing Footage Reveals First Look At George Miller's New Movie". /Film. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  11. ^ "Three Thousand Years Of Longing". Production List. January 13, 2020.
  12. ^ Thompson, Anne (July 23, 2019). "George Miller Looks Back on 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' and Forward to More Furiosa". IndieWire.
  13. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (December 6, 2019). "George Miller On March Start Date For Next Film, More 'Mad Max', Defending Superheroes As Cinema & The Search For Depth That Makes Movies Like 'Fury Road' Unforgettable". Deadline Hollywood.
  14. ^ Kay, Jeremy; Tutt, Louise (September 10, 2020). "Cautious industry heads into TIFF with eyes wide open". Screen Daily.
  15. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (December 9, 2020). "George Miller's 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing' Underway In Australia; Oscar-Winning DoP John Seale Among 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Team Re-Uniting On Movie". Deadline Hollywood.
  16. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 14, 2020). "MGM Lands North American Rights On George Miller-Directed 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing' With Idris Elba & Tilda Swinton". Deadline Hollywood.
  17. ^ a b Keslassy, Elsa (March 16, 2022). "George Miller's 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' With Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba Set for Cannes (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  18. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing | Official Trailer | 2022 [HD]". May 23, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing | Official Trailer HD | Starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton". May 21, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ Sharf, Zack (May 20, 2022). "George Miller's Visual Feast 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Earns Six-Minute Standing Ovation in Cannes". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  21. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (May 20, 2022). "Activist Removed From Cannes Red Carpet Following Naked Protest Against Sexual Violence In Ukraine". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  22. ^ Chapman, Wilson (May 20, 2022). "George Miller Tells an Epic, Fantasy Love Story in 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Trailer". Variety. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  23. ^ O'Rourke, Ryan (August 5, 2022). "George Miller's 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Release Date Moved Up". Collider. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  24. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing DVD Release Date". www.dvdsreleasedates.com. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  25. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing - Financial Information". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  26. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 27, 2022). "Horror Pic 'The Invitation' Leads Worst Weekend At This Summer's Box Office, All Pics Grossing $54M". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  27. ^ McClintock, Pamela (August 28, 2022). "Box Office: 'The Invitation' Leads Horrifyingly Slow Weekend With $7M". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  28. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (August 28, 2022). "'The Invitation' Tops Box Office With $7 Million in Catastrophically Slow Weekend". Variety. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  29. ^ Welk, Brian (August 29, 2022). "Why George Miller's 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Tanked at the Box Office". TheWrap. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  30. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 3, 2022). "Rebound Summer Loses Heat With Ice Cold Labor Day Weekend — Even With $3 Tickets On National Cinema Day; 'Top Gun: Maverick' Nearing $700M – Saturday AM Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  31. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 23, 2022.:71%| Edit this at Wikidata
  32. ^ "Three Thousand Years of Longing". Metacritic. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  33. ^ Debruge, Peter (May 20, 2022). "'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Review: George Miller's Wishy-Washy Fantasy Has Serious Story Problems". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
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