| Air | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ben Affleck |
| Written by | Alex Convery |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Edited by | William Goldenberg |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 112 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70–90 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $90.1 million[4][5] |
Air is a 2023 Americanbiographicalsports drama film directed byBen Affleck and written by Alex Convery. The film is based on true events about the origin ofAir Jordan, a basketball shoeline, of which aNike employee seeks to strike a business deal with rookie playerMichael Jordan. It starsMatt Damon, Affleck,Jason Bateman,Marlon Wayans,Chris Messina,Chris Tucker, andViola Davis.
The project was announced in April 2022 with Affleck set to direct, as well as star and produce alongside Damon with their newly formed production companyArtists Equity.Principal photography took place between June and July 2022 with Affleck reuniting with his frequent collaborators cinematographerRobert Richardson and editorWilliam Goldenberg. While Michael Jordan was not involved with the production, he did meet with Affleck, offering several suggestions, including the casting of Davis as his mother. Originally set to premiere on the streaming serviceAmazon Prime Video, distributorAmazon Studios opted to release the film theatrically first after positivetest screenings, making it the first Amazon title sinceLate Night (2019) to be released in theaters without also premiering on Prime Video.
Air had its world premiere atSouth by Southwest on March 18, 2023, and was released theatrically in the United States on April 5. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $90 million worldwide. It received two nominations at the81st Golden Globe Awards, includingBest Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
In 1984, Oregon-basedNike, Inc. is on the verge of shutting its basketball shoe division down due to low sales. In response to this, Marketing VPRob Strasser, along with co-founder and CEOPhil Knight, task Nike's basketball talent scoutSonny Vaccaro to come up with a new spokesperson for Nike basketball shoes.
While considering the basketball players chosen in the1984 NBA draft, Nike's executives think third pickMichael Jordan is off limits, being both a fan ofAdidas and too expensive for the basketball division's meager budget. However, once Vaccaro watches Jordan's highlights in conjunction with anArthur Ashe commercial for hisHead rackets, Vaccaro becomes convinced that Nike should pursue who he considers a generational talent, with both brand and athlete building off each other.
Following dinner with his friendGeorge Raveling, who coached Jordan inthe Olympic tournament, and asking for his support in courting the star, Vaccaro travels toWilmington, North Carolina, where he convinces Michael's mother Deloris that Nike would give Jordan all the attention that he would not receive from his preferred brands Adidas andConverse.
After receiving a negative phone call from Jordan's agentDavid Falk regarding contacting his client's family, Vaccaro learns that the Jordans have scheduled a meeting at Nike'sBeaverton, Oregon headquarters the following Monday. Vaccaro and Strasser start preparing their pitch while requesting shoe designerPeter Moore to prepare a prototype, which Moore names "Air Jordan" after Nike's Air Sole technology. In the meantime, Knight agrees to assign the basketball division's entire $250,000 budget to sign Jordan.
After the meeting with Jordan and his parents is successful, Vaccaro learns that Adidas matched the offer while adding aMercedes Benz 380SL, and he thinks the deal will not go through. However, Vaccaro receives a call from Deloris, who states that Michael will sign with Nike on the condition he earns a percentage of every Air Jordan sold.
Even though Vaccaro thinks the company's higher-ups would not accept this bonus due to industry precedent, Knight goes with it, deeming necessary to ensure the endorsement. An epilogue reveals the Air Jordan exceeded Knight's expectations of $3 million in sales, earning $162 million[6][7][8] in one year and becoming a steady source of income for Nike.
The screenplay was written by Alex Convery between 2020 and 2021, appearing on 2021'sBlack List under the titleAir Jordan.[9][10] Convery had the idea for the film while watching a brief segment in the documentary miniseriesThe Last Dance about howNike signed basketball playerMichael Jordan and created theAir Jordan. He then researched the history further.[11] It was reported in April 2022 that the script had been bought byAmazon Studios, who were to produce withSkydance Sports andMandalay Pictures, withBen Affleck andMatt Damon teaming to star in the film, while Affleck would direct.[12][13]
Principal photography began in Los Angeles on June 6, 2022, withJason Bateman,Viola Davis,Chris Tucker,Marlon Wayans, andChris Messina amongst several additions to the cast.[14][15][16]Robert Richardson served as cinematographer, using theArri Alexa 35 camera to film with.[17] It wrapped up in July 2022.[18] The same month,Joel Gretsch,Gustaf Skarsgård, andJessica Green were announced to be among the cast.[19][20] The character of Michael Jordan is portrayed in the film, though his face is not seen and has limited dialogue.[21]
Although not directly involved with the film, Jordan met with Affleck prior to the beginning of production and gave the project his blessing, asking for four changes to the script. Jordan asked for the inclusion ofGeorge Raveling, his assistant coach on the1984 United States men's Olympic basketball team, who was the first to recommend that he should sign with Nike.[11][22][23] Jordan also asked that Howard White, vice president of Nike's Jordan Brand and his personal friend, be included in the film. This directly led to Affleck casting Tucker, with whom he had long wanted to work and whom Jordan knew.[24] He also asked for the removal ofTinker Hatfield as a character, as Hatfield, despite working at Nike at the time, was not involved with the creation of the Air Jordan.[10] Finally, Jordan asked the roles of his parents,James R. Jordan Sr. and Deloris Jordan, to be extended, and the casting of Davis to play his mother, who was instrumental in making his mind about meeting and signing a deal with Nike, was his idea.[24][25] Affleck and Damon did an uncredited script revision to accommodate Jordan's asks.[11]
Affleck curated a playlist titled1984 onSpotify, having more than a hundred popular hits from the 1980s.[26] He sent the playlist to music supervisor Andrea von Foerster, and instructed her to select the tracks that are apt for the film. Since she did not have a big-budget for the film's music, she asked artists and music publishers to trust the film's story and compile the soundtrack.[27][28] The soundtrack to the film featured 13 songs out of the 23 needle drops and 18 score cues as heard in the film, and released under theLegacy Recordings label on April 5, 2023.[29]
Air was originally slated for a streaming-only release onAmazon Prime Video,[2] but Amazon Studios eventually decided to release the film theatrically following strong results fromtest screenings.[30]
Air was theatrically released in the United States on April 5, 2023, making it the first Amazon title sinceLate Night (2019) to be given an exclusive theatrical release.Warner Bros. Pictures handled the film's international theatrical and worldwide physical home media release. Amazon also gave the film a longer theatrical window before releasing it on Prime Video globally than their previous theatrical releases.[31] The film closed out the2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival festival on March 18, 2023.[32] The film was released via streaming on Amazon Prime Video on May 12, 2023.[33]
Amazon spent $40–50 million promoting the film,[3][13] including $7 million on an ad which aired duringSuper Bowl LVII.[34] According toDeadline, Amazon "relished the long tail of the movie and its impact onPrime Video in terms of views, subscriber hold, and resonance on other parts of Amazon.com."[35]
It was released onBlu-ray andDVD on September 12, 2023, byWarner Bros. Home Entertainment. Despite being a film from Amazon Studios, the physical release is credited as aMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures release due to the acquisition of that studio byAmazon in 2022.[36]
The film had its broadcast television premiere onABC on June 11, 2024, serving as a bridge program for the network's broadcast of the2024 NBA Finals, playing on an off night between Games 2 and 3.[37]
Air grossed $52.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $37.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $90.1 million.[5][4]
In the United States and Canada,Air was released alongsideThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, and was projected to gross $16–18 million from 3,507 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.[30][2][3] It made $3.2 million on its first day and $2.4 million on its second. The film went on to debut to $14.4 million (and a total of $20.2 million over the five days), finishing third at the box office; 49% of the audience was older than 35.[13] The film made $7.6 million and $5.5 million in its second and third weekend, respectively, finishing fifth both times.[38][39]
Outside of the US and Canada,Air grossed $10.5 million from 59 markets in its opening weekend.[40] In its second weekend, the film earned $6.2 million from 66 markets for a drop of 34%.[41]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 93% of 343 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A fact-based drama that no one will dunk on,Air aims to dramatize events that changed the sports world forever—and hits almost nothing but net."[42]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[43] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled byPostTrak gave it a 93% positive score, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend it.[13]
Chicago Sun-Times'sRichard Roeper gave the film four out of four stars, writing "Thanks to Affleck's sure-handed, period-piece-perfect direction, a crackling good screenplay by Alex Convery and the lively, funny, warm, passionate performances from the A-list cast,Air is as entertaining and fast-paced as an NBA Finals game that is destined for overtime."[44] Peter Debruge, writing forVariety, gave the film a positive review and praised the performances, saying: "Air ought to be taken as the ultimate example of the American dream, a funny, touching Cinderella story about how the third-place sneaker brand wished upon a star, and how that man—and his mother—were smart enough to know their value."[45]The Hollywood Reporter's Lovia Gyarkye also gave the film a positive review and deemed that, "For most audiences,Air will be worth seeing just for the starry cast—particularly the reunion between Damon and Affleck. Their scenes possess a kinetic and intimate dynamism that the rest of the film approaches but doesn't always match."[46] FilmmakersA. V. Rockwell andReinaldo Marcus Green cited it as among their favorite films of 2023.[47]
Less flatteringly,NPR'sAisha Harris summarily dismissed the film's "flimsy premise" as a "craven exercise in capitalist exaltation"; though she praised Davis and Messina's performances, Harris resented the overall inadequate character development and concluded with the impression that there was "something ultimately hollow about trying to extractFUBU mentality from what amounts to a two-hour ad for Nike and the uber-rich".[48] Similarly,Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian admonished the film for "looking like the most expensive in-house corporate promo in history: shallow, parochial and obtuse" and also bemoaned the underutilization of Davis, who he described as having "more charisma and force than the rest of the cast put together".[49]
| Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astra Film and Creative Awards | January 6, 2024 | Best Picture | Air | Nominated | [50] |
| Best Director | Ben Affleck | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Screenplay | Alex Convery | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Viola Davis | Nominated | |||
| Best Cast Ensemble | The cast ofAir[a] | Nominated | |||
| February 26, 2024 | Best Casting | Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham Ahanonu | Nominated | ||
| Black Reel Awards | January 16, 2024 | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Viola Davis | Nominated | [51] |
| Outstanding Costume Design | Charlese Antoinette Jones | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Hairstyle and Make-up | Carla Farmer | Nominated | |||
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | January 14, 2024 | Best Acting Ensemble | The cast ofAir[a] | Nominated | [52] |
| Best Original Screenplay | Alex Convery | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing | William Goldenberg | Nominated | |||
| Golden Globe Awards | January 7, 2024 | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Air | Nominated | [51] |
| Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Matt Damon | Nominated | |||
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | November 27, 2023 | Visionary Icon & Creator Tribute | Air | Won | [53] |
| Heartland Film | 2023 | Truly Moving Picture Award | Won | [54] | |
| Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards | June 30, 2023 | Best Picture | Nominated | [50] | |
| Best Director | Ben Affleck | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor | Matt Damon | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Chris Messina | Nominated | |||
| Ben Affleck | Nominated | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Viola Davis | Won | |||
| Best Screenplay | Alex Convery | Runner-up | |||
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 15, 2023 | Music Supervision — Film | Andrea Von Foerster | Nominated | [55][56] |
| Mill Valley Film Festival | October 16, 2023 | Variety Screenwriters to Watch | Alex Convery | Won | [57] |
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | December 11, 2023 | Best Performance by an Ensemble | The cast ofAir | Nominated | [58] |
| Best Use of Music | Air | Nominated | |||
| St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards | December 10, 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Viola Davis | Nominated | [59] |
| Best Original Screenplay | Alex Convery | Nominated | |||
| Best Soundtrack | Air (Official Soundtrack) | Nominated | |||
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | December 10, 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Viola Davis | Nominated | [50] |
| Best Original Screenplay | Alex Convery | Nominated | |||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | April 14, 2024 | Best Original Screenplay | Alex Convery | Nominated | [60] |
In June 2023,Donald Trump used the monologue from the film in a fundraising2024 presidential campaign video onTruth Social. Damon and Affleck's production companyArtists Equity condemned the usage as unauthorized.[61]
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