Fans of Mikey Madison like yours truly are getting an early Christmas gift this week, courtesy of Neon. Anora, director Sean Baker’s stunning romantic dramedy that became the most talked-about movie of the year (it’s also 2024’s best, in my humble opinion), finally has a digital release date. And the good news is that it’s essentially already here.
The film, which opened nationwide last month, will be available via video on demand starting Dec. 17. Setting the long-awaited premium digital release for Anora follows its record-breaking theatrical success, which saw the modern-day Cinderella story earn the highest opening weekend per-screen average of 2024 — as well as the second-highest per-screen average of the post-pandemic era, behind only Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City.
Madison, who delivers a career-making turn in Anora that will stay with you long after the credits roll, plays a young sex worker from Brooklyn named Ani. As Neon explains it, Ani’s life “takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the impetuous son of a Russian billionaire. However, when Vanya’s parents catch wind of the union, they send their henchmen to annul the marriage, setting off a wild chase through the streets of New York.”
The movie is actually so good that keeping track of all the awards it’s garnered is proving quite difficult — because they just keep coming. Madison, for example, has already scooped up 10 separate awards for herself, while nominations that Anora has earned so far in addition to the Palme d’Or include four at the Gotham Awards, six from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, seven from Critics Choice Awards, and five Golden Globe nominations including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. The film was awarded Best Picture of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
As I said, though, the above still only scratches the surface. Anora is continuing to rack up accolades and buzz, and as of this writing, it’s pulled in a worldwide box office tally of almost $26 million on a mere $6 production budget. Raves the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus about the movie, “Another marvelous chronicle of America’s strivers by writer-director Sean Baker given some extra pizzazz by Mikey Madison’s brassy performance, Anora is a romantic drama on the bleeding edge.”
