The Telluride Film Festival got underway yesterday, and reactions to some of the highly-anticipated world premieres are starting to arrive.

In Jason Reitman’s SATURDAY NIGHT, it’s backstage at 30 Rockefeller Center, and the clock is ticking. Two young TV producers, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) and Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), with the writers Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) and Michael O’Donogue (Tommy Dewey), along with their unruly ensemble of twentysomething actors (including Andy Kaufman, John Belushi and Gilda Radner), are attempting something new: live sketch comedy, broadcast to the world.

But there’s not enough time, too many vulnerable egos, a resistant old-school production team and a corporate overlord (embodied here by Willem Dafoe) that is at best indifferent to the show. Will their dream be crushed before it begins? Or will the show go on? Writer-director Jason Reitman (JUNO, UP IN THE AIR), co-writer Gil Kenan and the gifted cinematographer Eric Steelberg, who makes nearly every shot an elaborate Steadicam composition, have reconstructed a famous night in inventive, often poignant, often hilarious, dream-like fashion.

The film world premiered today at the Telluride Film Festival, and is set to screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures will launch the film in US theaters on October 11th, 2024. You can find the release date on our in theaters calendar.

Early word on Saturday Night is very positive. Here are the first reactions out of Telluride:

Check out the film’s official trailer: