A24’s romance film that grossed $104 million, The materialists, debuts on HBO Max on November 7 with a linear premiere on Saturday, November 8 at 8 p.m. EST.
In the feature film directed and written by Céline Song, Dakota Johnson plays an ambitious young New York matchmaker who finds herself torn between the perfect rich man (Pedro Pascal) and her imperfect ex-boyfriend, who is a struggling actor (Chris Evans). The film was produced by David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler and Céline Song.
Materialists comes to HBO Max after a 147-day theatrical window. The film opened to $11.3 million at the domestic box office and ended its run in the United States and Canada at $36.5 million with another nearly $66 million from overseas, with this international release handled by Sony. The film received a 78% certification rating from critics and, in A24 fashion, left audiences debating its ending with a B-CinemaScore.
Pete Hammond, Deadline’s chief film critic, beamed in his review: “Song played her three leads perfectly. Johnson portrays all the insecurity lurking beneath the surface of this seemingly assured businesswoman and is superb in what may be her best screen outing to date. Evans, always a better actor than he gets credit for, doesn’t miss a beat as a guy who’s still struggling as an actor and as a man trying to find his true love, and knowing that he probably already did – one that got away. Pascal, in a role that could have been one-dimensional, gives Harry genuine humanity and sympathy. He’s someone we can root for, too, and in a key scene where he reveals his surprising vulnerability (it has to do with some kind of plastic surgery I didn’t know existed), he’s heartbreakingly real.
