Paul Thomas Anderson will be repping Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” during the first week of January. A guild screening of Howard’s film will be moderated by PTA on January 5th.
Every year it’s the same story. Oscar pundits spitball the contenders, trying to shape the race the way they deem most satisfying to their tastes, then the Academy screenings begin in late October and the race changes.
With that being said, I keep saying we should not discount Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” — it’s been receiving some of the best responses from Oscar voters at Academy screenings this fall.
I already wrote about my bafflement regarding Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” being dumped by Amazon during the dog days of August. When MGM, who had originally positioned the film as a November release, sold the rights to Amazon the streaming company clearly decided Howard’s film wasn’t worth campaigning for. Then, they saw voters’ responses …
Howard’s film received the best test scores in MGM history — earning a 97 in the top two boxes and an 86 “definite recommend”. Critics and audiences are positive on or as well with an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 95% audience score. This would have been perfect fodder for TIFF audiences — one can imagine it finishing in the top 3 for the coveted Toronto audience award.