World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
Godzilla Minus Zero rips into rave reviews at NYFF while NAZA draws protests at its own premiere, Nollywood’s Oversabi Aunty crosses ₦1 billion ahead of an October streaming release, Bollywood serves up Lust Stories 3, and happy birthday to Gwyneth Paltrow..
Morning all — the New York Film Festival has properly announced itself this weekend, plus a proper weekly tour through Nollywood and Bollywood while we’re at it. Here’s what happened in the world of movies over the last day and the wider week.
Godzilla Minus Zero rips into rave first reactions: Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero had its world premiere at NYFF, marking a rare blockbuster bow for the festival, and the reactions have been genuinely ecstatic — critics calling it “jaw-dropping,” “awe-inspiring” and, from more than one corner, worthy of a Best Picture nomination outright. Yamazaki has also defended the film’s first R rating in the franchise’s history, saying censoring the action “was not an option.” It’s set for a UK/US release via Toho later in the year, following its Japanese bow on 3rd November and I will hopefully get to see it at the LFF in a couple of week’s time to provide you with an early review.
NAZA draws protests outside its own premiere: A very different reception met Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s Gaza documentary NAZA at its North American premiere, also at NYFF. Israeli-American protesters gathered outside to screen October 7th footage in response, arguing that compassion for Palestinian civilians “doesn’t require us to erase October 7th.” Security around the film has been unusually tight throughout its festival run, and with Israeli officials reportedly campaigning against Abraham and Szor’s citizenship status, the film is being rushed into a self-distributed theatrical run at New York’s IFC Center within days of this sold-out premiere.
A strong week for Nollywood, led by Oversabi Aunty: Zooming out on the wider week, Toyin Abraham Ajeyemi’s Oversabi Aunty has crossed ₦1 billion at the Nigerian box office. That’s only $750k USD, but a significant hit by Nigerian standards. The film is now confirmed for an October streaming release on both Netflix and Kava — a significant crossover for a Nollywood title moving from cinema hit to major streaming presence in the same year.
Bollywood serves up Lust Stories 3: Over in Indian cinema, the Emmy-nominated anthology franchise returned with Lust Stories 3 on Netflix India, its third instalment continuing the series’ exploration of love, desire and modern relationships across four distinct stories.
Happy birthday to Gwyneth Paltrow: Rounding things off, happy birthday today to Shakespeare in Love and Iron Man actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who turns 54.
That’s all for today.
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