Why Australians have to wait until 2023 to see Cate Blanchett’s ‘best film’

It’s been called one of the year’s best films and Cate Blanchett’s most impressive performance to date, but most of the Oscar-winning actress’ Australian compatriots will have to wait three months longer than US audiences to actually see it.

Despite premiering on October 7 in the US, Tar isn’t being released in Australian cinemas until January 26, frustrating local audiences who are being bombarded with international coverage hyping up the film. And Tar is just one of a recent string of movies that have seen delays coming to our shores, albeit the most egregious because its leading star is one of Australia’s most acclaimed actresses.

Cate Blanchett in a scene from upcoming movie Tar, in which she plays conductor Lydia Tar.Credit: Focus Features

After months of chaotic international press in the lead-up to the film, Australians had to wait an extra two weeks to see Harry Styles and Florence Pugh’s Don’t Worry Darling in early October. Billy Eichner’s Bros arrived a full month later than it did in the US, and other titles like Mrs Harris Goes to Paris and DC League of Super-Pets took up to three months.

Mike Baard, managing director of Universal Pictures Australasia (which distributes most of these films, including Tar), says it’s not unusual to see these types of delays. But it is perhaps more noticeable in the context of the past few years, he says, when many movies got fast-tracked internationally due to the pandemic.

“Most films in Australia will open either on the same weekend as the US, or the weekend after … But when a film is delayed, there’s inevitably strategic reasons.”

Some films, like DC League of Super Pets, are held back to better fit when Australian school holidays fall. And others are delayed to allow for the option of bringing talent here to promote the film. Delaying Bros, for example, allowed for Billy Eichner, Luke MacFarlane and director Nicholas Stoller to attend the Melbourne premiere of the film and do local media interviews (including with this masthead).

This isn’t possible with all films. You won’t ever see big delays in high-profile superhero movies “where fans are salivating to see it and piracy is a factor,” Baard notes. “You want fans all over the world to be talking about something [like that] at the same time.”

But he says other films can benefit from a drip-feed approach, where excitement is slowly built in different markets: “Sometimes we use a sledgehammer to bludgeon people. Sometimes we just nudge people towards something.”

Tar, Baard says, falls in the latter category. “Unlike a big superhero movie or a star-studded romantic comedy, Tar is a film that requires more [commitment and understanding from the average audience]. I mean, it’s two hours and 39 minutes. It’s asking people to give up time. And it’s also a challenging film – challenging in the best possible way.”

“We need audiences to be prepared, to know what they’re going to see. And often what drives that is critical consensus and/or awards buzz.”

Critical consensus is now building locally. The film has just screened at Adelaide Film Festival and is playing at the Brisbane International Film Festival this week. A special screening, featuring Cate Blanchett, in Sydney has also just sold out. And, as for awards buzz, it’s no coincidence that the film premieres on January 26 – the day after the 2023 Oscar nominations will be announced in the US.

“There’s no question that if Tar becomes a best picture Oscar nominee, or a best actress Oscar nominee, we’ve got a far more convincing proposition for the audience,” Baard says.

That wait may be a hard pill to swallow for audiences, however, who are increasingly used to consuming news about films in a global media environment and receiving screen content on demand.

“Nobody’s sitting there going ‘OK, how do we take a movie that everybody wants to see and then deny them the opportunity’,” Baard says. Instead, it comes down to the commercial realities of cinema (which rely on strong opening weekends to ensure films maintain their place on screens).

“The reality of these, let’s call them ‘quality, upscale films’ is they do not make hundreds of millions of dollars at the global box office. They don’t make tens of millions of dollars in Australia. And it costs a lot of money to bring a film to market.”

“It’s like catching a wave. If you wait for the right one, and catch it at exactly the right moment, you get a great ride.”

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