Yesterday Denis Villeneuve’s cerebral sci-fi Arrival garnered eight Oscar nominations, and there was much rejoicing. Side-stepping the issue of Amy Adams’ lack of nomination for Best Actress (and come on – she is that movie…) this is a very good thing. Villeneuve’s film came upon the scene with relatively little fanfare and startled audiences with its take on the alien invasion trope. That this was released in the same year as Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence illustrates perfectly how two films can diverge on their treatment of a subject.
News has reached us today that Arrival will be heading back into cinemas at the end of this week in the US. No firm details of a re-issue on this side of the pond have surfaced as of yet. It’s not uncommon for a film which bags a sizeable fist of awards nominations to be re-released; it makes obvious financial sense and gives those who didn’t see it already the chance to catch up. It also helps fuel the anticipation for Villeneuve’s next sci-fi film – the much-hyped, long-awaited Blade Runner 2049.
We understand that the new release of Arrival will include eight minutes of bonus footage from the film which should include some behind the scenes element, and something from Villeneuve himself. The film was a tightly-wound mystery which doesn’t seem like it needs expanding. However Villenueve and Eric Heisserer’s careful adaptation of Ted Chiang’s phenomenal short story ‘Stories of your Life’ indicates that the same love for the material will carry through to this new, extended version.
Arrival was voted the best film of 2016 in our online critics poll at the end of last year. It’s Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Writing from an Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Production Design, and Best Sound Editing line up with its nine BAFTA nominations. It may well cause an upset if the Academies give this film the nod over La La Land (more likely in the UK than the US where films about Hollywood rule the roost). Whatever happens – this film is a classic, and we’re very happy it’ll enthral audiences once again.
