Poster © A24. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
|
GenreFeature film
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 44 mins
ReleasedMarch 14, 2025
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMark Anthony Green
StarringAyo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis
|
Opus (2025)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Opus's Details | |
| Genre | Feature film |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 01/27/2025 (Sundance); 03/14/2025 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 44 mins |
| Budget | $10M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Opus's Interests | |
| General | Denim uniforms, listening parties, remote compounds, gift bags, confiscated phones, a book everyone must read. |
| Music | Score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans. Moretti's songs by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream. |
| Movies | Get Out (2017), Glass Onion (2022). Never accept the fancy invite. |
| Television | Behind the Music, if the band had a secret handshake. |
| Heroes | Ariel Ecton. The only guest who reads the room. |
| Opus's Crew | |
| Director | Mark Anthony Green |
| Writers | Mark Anthony Green |
| Producers | Mark Anthony Green, Josh Bachove, Poppy Hanks, Jelani Johnson, Collin Creighton, Brad Weston |
| Cinematography | Tommy Maddox-Upshaw |
| Music | Danny Bensi (score), Saunder Jurriaans (score), Nile Rodgers (music), The-Dream (music) |
| Edited By | Ernie Gilbert |
| Production | MACRO Media, Makeready |
| Distributed By | A24 |
Beanbag chairs, a puppet Billie Holiday and a panel of paparazzi rats: that is one of the clearer ideas in Opus. John Malkovich plays Alfred Moretti, a 1990s pop giant dropping his first album in decades, who invites six guests out to his Utah compound for a private listening party. Ayo Edebiri’s Ariel, a journalist, is the only one who thinks the staff in matching denim, the confiscated phones and all the talk about Levelists might be red flags. Malkovich is clearly having a blast, and Edebiri’s side-eye carries a lot. The trouble is that the satire of fame, fandom and media never picks a target, so the scares and the jokes both go soft. It scored 39% with critics and a C-plus from opening crowds, and a reported $10 million budget turned into $2.2 million worldwide. A 3.9 because a committed cast can’t rescue a concept this mushy. $2,638 says you keep your phone in your pocket at the next party, no matter who asks for it.
What works: John Malkovich is gleefully strange as Moretti, and Ayo Edebiri makes a sharp, skeptical lead.
What doesn’t: The satire is muddled and never decides what it’s saying about fame, so the thrills and the laughs both fizzle.
Who it’s for: Malkovich completists and fans of cult-compound thrillers who can live with a messy message.
Spoilers
Ariel gets out and writes a bestselling book about what happened, and Moretti later reveals the whole night was staged so her book would spread Levelism. In the final scene, she notices she is wearing one of the cult’s pearl necklaces.
Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) was a pop superstar in the 1990s, and after thirty years of silence he is finally dropping a new album. He invites six lucky guests to a private listening party at his compound in Utah, including journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri), her boss Stan Sullivan (Murray Bartlett) and talk show host Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis). The staff wear matching denim, take everyone's phones at the door, and keep mentioning something called the Levelists. Everyone else is starstruck. Ariel is not so sure. Mark Anthony Green writes and directs his first feature. One hundred four minutes, do not skip the liner notes.
Superfans with good instincts. If the staff takes your phone, leave.
| Ayo Edebiri | Ariel Ecton |
| John Malkovich | Alfred Moretti |
| Juliette Lewis | Clara Armstrong |
| Murray Bartlett | Stan Sullivan |
| Melissa Chambers | Bianca Tyson |
| Tony Hale | Soledad Yusef |
| Stephanie Suganami | Emily Katz |
| Mark Sivertsen | Bill Lotto |
| Amber Midthunder | Belle |
| Tatanka Means | Najee |
| Tamera Tomakili | Rachel Malick |
| Young Mazino | Kent |
| Rosario Dawson | the Billie Holiday puppet |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 19 October 2026 DataBot +520 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $2.2M; Domestic box office $2M; Opening weekend $1M; Profit / loss (est.) -$13.9M; Rotten Tomatoes 39%; CinemaScore C+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 39% (137 reviews); Metacritic 42 / 100; PostTrak audience 64% positive; CinemaScore C+; IMDb users 5.7 / 10 (15,032 votes); movie.guru score 2.5.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 19 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.