Highlights

Netflix's latest awards contender, "Leave the World Behind," directed by Sam Esmail and starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, tells the story of two families forced to stay together in a house during an apocalyptic event.
The film was purchased by Netflix in a competitive bidding war and is produced by Higher Ground Productions, the company of Barack and Michelle Obama.
Netflix hopes to finally win the Best Picture award at the Oscars with "Leave the World Behind" after previous nominations for films like "The Irishman" and "Mank."

Over the past few years, Netflix has eagerly tried to secure its first Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2021, the streamer/studio had two films in the running with David Fincher's Mank and Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 yet ultimately lost to Chloé Zhao's Nomadland. The following year resulted in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog losing to Sian Heder's CODA, produced by rival streamer/studio Apple TV+. Last year's loss may have been the worst though, when Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front won four awards before losing the grand prize to the Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once. Their latest of many attempts to strike gold will be in the hands of Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail and his adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel Leave the World Behind.

Esmail, who continues to develop projects for TV, has not directed a film since 2014's indie rom-com Comet starring Justin Long and Emmy Rossum. He now joins Netflix's buzzing awards race with David Fincher (director of The Killer starring Michael Fassbender) and Bradley Cooper (director and star of Maestro) with a star-studded apocalyptic thriller.

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What is Leave the World Behind about?

Director	Sam Esmail
Writer	Sam Esmail
Based On	Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Cast	Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha'la, Kevin Bacon
Rotten Tomatoes Score	86% based on 7 reviews

Amanda (Julia Roberts) plans a spontaneous family vacation to Long Island with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and their two kids. Everything is going terrifically until their cellular reception goes dead and a dapper couple, G.H. (Mahershala Ali in pre-Blade form) and Ruth (Myha'la), arrive to tell them that the house they are staying in is theirs. G.H. explains they were on their way to the city when an unexplained event forced them to turn back. Checking for updates on TV, it is revealed that the United States has been hit with a series of cyberattacks and power outages. The unacquainted families now have no choice but to stay in the house together while the world collapses around them.

Netflix purchased the rights to Alam's novel on July 20, 2020, three months before the book was published, in a competitive bidding war with Apple, MGM, and other top studios. Roberts was immediately attached to star and produce along with Denzel Washington, who inevitably left the project due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Ali. The film is also produced by Higher Ground Productions, the media company of Barack and Michelle Obama, and its cast is rounded out by Kevin Bacon, Farrah Mackenzie, and Charlie Evans.

When is Leave the World Behind Coming Out?

Much like with their previous awards contenders, Netflix will employ a platform release with a limited theatrical run on November 22 and then have its streaming premiere on December 8. This model began with Martin Scorsese's 2019 gangster epic The Irishman, which was the streamer/studio's first big shot at the Academy Awards prior to their more concerted efforts of this decade. The deciding factor of Scorsese's deal with Netflix was for them to guarantee a significant theatrical release before its streaming premiere and The Irishman ended up reaching around 100 theaters during early November 2019 and planned to dwindle to 0 after it hit streaming at the end of that month. On the contrary, Netflix expanded the film to a total of 500 theaters and has continued to lean towards the cinematic experience, having recently revived Hollywood's famous Egyptian Theatre to be the showcase for their original work.

Is this Finally Netflix's Year at the Oscars?

The Irishman began Netflix's prestigious film dynasty by receiving ten Academy Award nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, however, it was unable to win any of its categories. Since then, the "Netflix Original Film" has become more commonplace in awards discussions as they have had at least one legitimate contender each year.

Netflix movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards:

2019: Roma
2020: The Irishman, Marriage Story
2021: Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7
2022: Don't Look Up, The Power of the Dog
2023: All Quiet on the Western Front

Along with the aforementioned entries are the sports biopic NYAD starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster as well as the crime drama Pain Hustlers starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans. The question that remains is if this diverse slate of films gives Netflix its best chance to win the grand prize they have longed to achieve or if each of them will end up cannibalizing each other.

Funnily enough, one of Netflix's other recent awards hopefuls was 2021's Don't Look Up, another apocalyptic film whose themes matched its reception. Leave the World Behind thankfully looks like a marked improvement from that, mainly because it appears to be more subtle with its subtext and tone in general. Esmail has certainly established himself as one of TV's unique modern voices with Mr. Robot and Homecoming (also starring Julia Roberts) so hopefully those sensibilities can carry over to a narrative feature. It would be unfair to take a position on his cinematic talent by solely looking at his directorial debut from almost a decade ago, but judging from the trailer for Leave the World Behind, Esmail has comfortably transitioned to the latest stage of his exciting career.