The Safdie War of 2025 has seen some interesting developments since we last wrote about the dueling A24 features dropping from the now-split pair of directors behind Uncut Gems and Good Time this year. The first of those movies, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, got some good notices from critics (including us, and, if Nathan Fielder’s name had been attached to it as an executive producer or something, people might have been able to get what Safdie and the Rock were up to in that movie) and it absolutely flopped at the box office. Not Christy bad, but bad enough to kill any momentum it might have had in awards season and so on. Now, it’s Josh’s turn, and Marty Supreme is shaping up to be something genuinely interesting.
First, A24 felt confident enough to show it as a “surprise screening” at NYFF last month, where it attracted the usual hosannas from a crowd knowing that famous people were waiting to do a Q&A afterwards (we’re kidding). Second, they’re gearing up to screen it for press, over a month or more before it actually releases (they want to get it in front of awards voters, and we don’t blame them!), and now they’re ramping up marketing for the ping-pong epic. Hence, a brand-new trailer, dropped by A24 on Tuesday morning, ready to be attached to screenings of Eternity this weekend. Also, enjoy your daily dose of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” — as we say, “a Tears for Fears track a day keeps depression at bay.”
Peep it:
Here’s a prototypical A24 synopsis for Marty Supreme:
“Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.”
Marty Supreme hits theaters on Christmas Day. Man, this really makes us want to play Rockstar Games’ Table Tennis again.