Typical. You wait ages for a film in which a group of benevolent people turn up at a holiday rental and warn a family that the end of the world is imminent – and then two come along within the space of the year. If you survived M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock At The Cabin at the start of 2023, then be warned: the get-out-of-my-Airbnb apocalypse isn’t over. In fact, it’s back, back, back in Netflix’s upcoming Leave The World Behind – a hugely starry thriller in which… well, the benevolent but doom-spreading George and Ruth (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la Herrold) turn up at the holiday house where Amanda and Clay are vacationing (Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke – we told you this one had great names involved) and warn them that human civilisation is about to face an imminent decline. Oh no! Check out the trailer here:
Leave The World Behind is written and directed by Sam Esmail (aka the creator of Mr. Robot), and adapted from the 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam. In this one, it seems that the collapse of society is linked to a cyberattack that sees our feeble systems give way to anarchy – fun for all the family, then. Joining the big names mentioned above is Kevin Bacon – and this one notably comes with the backing of Higher Ground Productions, aka the Obamas’ production company. Stay tuned to see if it ranks on Barack Obama’s own ‘films of the year’ list (his taste is often pretty well-honed) come the end of 2023.
The film is expected to arrive in selected cinemas this November, and will be streaming on Netflix from 8 December. Start hoarding supplies now.