‘Melancholia’ Is Playing in More Theaters Than You Might Think This Weekend

When we reviewed Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia" earlier this week, we had to remind ourselves that the movie was actually hitting theaters this weekend. It feels like it had already been released, a month ago. The brave new world of video on demand is a strange and confusing one. You've been able to watch "Melancholia" from the comfort of your own home since October 7, which is the day "The Ides of March" came out. That feels like decades ago.

Anyway, this has led to some critical angst about people not watching this ambitious film on the big screen, that not enough people will see it the way it was meant to be seen. And, to be honest, we had sort of assumed that, because of the long VOD window, the movie would pop in on one or two screens and then vanish. And this week, that is the case: The film is only playing on three screens, two in New York, one in Los Angeles. But the week after that, turns out, "Melancholia" is gonna be playing on a lot of screens.

It's not getting "Jack and Jill" coverage, mind you. (Every time we type the name of that movie, it makes our eye twitch.) But check out all the places it's expanding on November 18. Coral Gables, Florida. Salt Lake City, Encino. This is sort of impressive, considering it's not just a film that's been out a month but also one directed by Lars Von Trier. ("Antichrist" never made it to Salt Lake City.) The VOD experiment is an ongoing one, but it's starting to show some results, particularly with "Margin Call," a movie that's doing so well that some wonder if it was a mistake to bother with VOD at all. Here's hoping the flawed-but-compelling "Melancholia" has similar good fortune.

Full List of Theatres Showing "Melancholia" in the US [True Blood News]