‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and the Case for Theatrical Movies

It’s an understatement to say that the theatrical market has been filled with uncertainty in recent times. While last year’s runaway success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” led to the sense that only big superheroes were surefire bets, along comes “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which crossed the $20 million mark this week. Daniels’ mind-blowing multiverse movie makes an exciting case for original theatrical movies — and new release “The Northman” is angling to keep that conversation going, as yet another director-driven project engineered to excite moviegoers over an original concept.

Robert Eggers’ Viking epic brings his meticulous filmmaking style to a massive scale that few directors can pull off these days. How did he do it in the face of studio notes? And should other directors get the same opportunity to work on this level at the risk of compromising their visions?

In this week’s episode of Screen Talk, Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson (back from a two-week vacation) discuss both films and what makes them so distinctive in today’s marketplace. Inevitably, both movies raise questions about their awards campaign prospects later this year. (And no, there is no discussion this week about The Slap.)

Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.

Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous installments here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.