Babylon (2022 film)

Babylon
A blonde woman in a red dress crowdsurfs at a party.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDamien Chazelle
Written byDamien Chazelle
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLinus Sandgren
Edited byTom Cross
Music byJustin Hurwitz
Production
companies
  • Paramount Pictures
  • C2 Motion Picture Group
  • Marc Platt Studios
  • Wild Chickens Productions
  • Organism Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • November 14, 2022 (2022-11-14) (Los Angeles)
  • December 23, 2022 (2022-12-23) (United States)
Running time
189 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$78–80 million[2][3][4]
Box office$64.9 million[5][6]

Babylon is a 2022 American epic historical black comedy drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It features an ensemble cast that includes Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo and Li Jun Li. It chronicles the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s.

Chazelle began developing Babylon in July 2019, with Lionsgate Films as the frontrunner to acquire the project. It was announced that Paramount Pictures had acquired worldwide rights in November 2019. Much of the main cast joined the project between January 2020 and August 2021, and filming took place in Los Angeles from July to October 2021.

Babylon premiered at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on November 14, 2022, and was released in the United States on December 23, 2022. It was met with a polarized response from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $63 million against a production budget of $78–80 million and losing Paramount $87 million. It received five nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, winning Best Original Score), three nominations at the 76th British Academy Film Awards, and three nominations at the 95th Academy Awards.

  1. ^ "Babylon (18)". Damien Chazelle. BBFC. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  2. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (October 18, 2022). "Damien Chazelle's 'Babylon,' Starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, Opens Nationwide on Christmas". Variety. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  3. ^ McClintock, Pamela (January 5, 2023). "Box Office: As 2023 Begins, Worry and Fear Linger After a Topsy-Turvy Year for Moviegoing". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023. And Paramount watched Damien Chazelle's Babylon, budgeted at $78 million, bomb after an otherwise stellar year for the studio.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference opening was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Babylon (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  6. ^ "Babylon (2022) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved February 1, 2023.