A24 has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Ruben Östlund’s upcoming film, The Entertainment System Is Down, in an eight-figure deal. The deal was struck between A24 and the Paris-based Co-Production Office, which has been making the rounds with the project at the Cannes market.
The Entertainment System Is Down will be Östlund’s second English-language film, following his 2022 feature, Triangle of Sadness. The film was a notable success and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. This was the second time the Swedish filmmaker was honored with the Palme d’Or. He first won the award for his 2017 film, The Square.
What is The Entertainment System is Down all about?
Ruben Östlund’s upcoming film The Entertainment System is Down encompasses an ensemble cast including Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun, and Samantha Morton, with Dunst and Brühl set to play a married couple. Like its predecessor, the upcoming film will also be a social satire. This time, the premise of the film is set on a long-haul flight in which the entertainment system fails, and passengers must figure out how else to fill their time.
According to Deadline, Östlund and his producer, Erik Hemmendorff, purchased a real-life Boeing 747 for the film. He told the press during a Cannes event that he would mount the production over 70 days on a studio lot. Östlund said at the presser, “We bought the plane, and it was quite early in the process of the film. So suddenly it was like, ‘Oh, we have to make this film.”
Östlund also claimed that he expects to return to Cannes in 2026 when he will debut The Entertainment System Is Down.
Who is Ruben Östlund?
Ruben Östlund is an acclaimed filmmaker who is best known for his black comedic and satirical films Force Majeure (2014), The Square (2017), and Triangle of Sadness (2022).
Östlund’s first three feature-length fiction films were The Guitar Mongoloid (2004), Involuntary (2008), and Play (2011). With his upcoming film, The Entertainment System Is Down, the director will mark his second English-language film and the seventh feature film of his directorial career.
The filmmaker is a two-time winner of the Palme d’Or and the recipient of other awards and nominations. Moreover, he was honored with four European Film Awards and nominations for three Academy Awards.
While most people know him for his directorial films, little do they know that Östlund, along with film producer Erik Hemmendorff, co-founded the production company Plattform Produktion, which produces his films.
