If you missed the release of the dystopian political thriller Anniversary over the weekend, no one would blame you. The movie was released with little to no promotion, with one theatrical trailer hitting the internet ahead of its release and virtually no TV spots airing to support its debut. The cast, which is stacked with the likes of Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler, Dylan O’Brien, McKenna Grace, and more, didn’t make the promotional rounds, save Lane, who is also on board as a producer. It appeared Lionsgate was dumping the film because it was a stinker, releasing it to just 809 theaters, which resulted in an opening weekend of $309,013 and a dismal per-screen average of just $322. It’s not uncommon for studios to dump films on random weekends when they’re creatively on life support, but this doesn’t appear to be the case with Anniversary.

With 49 reviews counted, Anniversary has a 69 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Popcornmeter (audience) score of 79 percent. Having seen the film myself, it’s easily one of the best thrillers to hit the big screen in some time, but its plot, which is heavily political as an American family becomes the victim of an authoritarian government, seems a bit too close to reality. When one looks at a lot of this closer, Lionsgate may not have dumped Anniversary because the film wasn’t up to snuff, and may have done it because the political climate made it a tough sell during a time when President Donald Trump has turned our world into something more frightening than any film could be.

Directed by Jan Komasa from a screenplay by Lori Rosene-Gambino, Anniversary follows a close-knit family led by Diane Lane’s Ellen and Kyle Chandler’s Paul. Ellen is a progressive-leaning professor at Georgetown University, while Paul is a chef and restaurateur whose political leanings appear to favor whatever doesn’t rock the boat. At their 25th wedding anniversary, Josh (O’Brien), who is an unsuccessful novelist, has brought a new girlfriend, who is on the verge of being his fiancée, named Liz Nettles (Phoebe Dynevor).

Also in attendance are their other children, including environmental lawyer Cynthia (Deutch) and her husband Rob (Daryl McCormack), lesbian stand-up comedian Anna (Madeline Brewer), and their youngest, Birdie (McKenna Grace), the only one who hasn’t left the nest and has an affinity for wildlife science. Adding drama to the proceedings is Ellen recognizing Liz as a student who had extreme totalitarian ideas that resulted in a paper that pushed for a one-party state. These ideals have now been put into a book called The Change: The New Social Contract, which over time will become very influential and have America under a government with militarized police, drone surveillance, and other methods used to guarantee obedience…or else.

Anniversary was filmed in 2023 and before the beginning of the current presidential administration, so the fact that the movie hits the nail on the head regarding our current political climate is a coincidence or some kind of prophetic insight into what was to come. Whatever the case might be, Lionsgate does appear to have dumped it out of some fear of government retaliation, which is a reasonable fear considering this administration has been known to do this against media that opposes its ideals. During a conversation with The Wrap, producer Nick Wechsler summed some of this up best by saying, “I’ve never had a movie that we thought was really interesting that no one was aware of. It’s hard to market a political film today. People are afraid of them; they don’t know how it will be received emotionally. It’s a weird time.”

Still, the silence surrounding the film is deafening. From my watch, I only saw Lane supporting the movie during a visit to Live with Kelly and Mark and an interview on Entertainment Tonight. She was also reportedly one of three cast members who attended the premiere last month, with murmors emerging that the agents and publicists of some of the cast discouraged them from fully supporting the film. This would explain why McKenna Grace, who counts 3.3 million Instagram followers, hasn’t mentioned the movie on her page (but has been promoting the hell out of her other recent release, Regretting You), nor has Zoey Deutch, who has an impressive 3 million followers on her Instagram page.

O’Brien no longer has an official social media platform, but he remains popular on socials via fanpages created on his behalf. They’ve done more to get the word out about Anniversary, but they also track the actor’s movements pretty closely, and most of his marketing efforts have still been focused on Twinless, a movie that could earn him an Academy Award nomination. With a producing credit, it makes sense for Lane to be out there supporting the film, but it’s a shame she had to do it virtually alone without the support of her fellow castmates or the studio behind the movie. Judging from her interviews about the movie, she’s proud of the film and is likely none too happy about the lack of support being given by the rest of the cast and Lionsgate.

Another key element where silence seemed to be the status quo was in terms of reviews, at least from the more major outlets. Rotten Tomatoes counts 49 reviews, a healthy number for a movie that was dumped into a crowded marketplace without any fanfare, but outlets like The Washington Post and New York Times didn’t review the film at all. It’s possible that Lionsgate didn’t make the movie available to screen for those respective critics, but given the fact that I was offered a screener to watch at home suggests that they did give options knowing that theatrical screenings would be limited.

When one looks at the Trump administration threatening free speech (as witnessed when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was off the air for a few days) or lawsuits being thrown at CBS News and ABC because of the adminstration being unhappy with certain television interviews, maybe those trades avoided reviewing Anniversary more out of fear of suggesting it rings a bit too true rather than just not having the time to review the film. If that’s the case, what Anniversary dives into through its deeply unsettling narrative is more true than some would care to admit. 

Given the nature of the film, Anniversary was never meant to be a HUGE release, given its $7 million budget and reported $3 million marketing spend, but it also doesn’t appear that it was meant to be unceremoniously released either. The movie will likely have a bigger life on streaming when it’s released on Hulu, which is the streaming partner of Lionsgate, and releasing it on more than 800 screens (by just nine) means it maintains its output deal with the streamer. The release is calculated enough to ensure the movie will thrive on the streaming platform, but also small enough to guarantee it won’t make waves theatrically to draw too much attention it.

Since the movie was shot in 2023, it’s clear that the movie was expected for release sooner, but was halted when Trump began his second tenure in the White House. All of this was likely made more complicated as the political climate became more hostile and downright scary, coming to a fever pitch when media personality and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in broad daylight. As the world was becoming stranger than fiction, Lionsgate may have gotten downright concerned about how to handle the release of Anniversary and simply chose a route that wouldn’t garner much attention.

It’s a shame, though, the world we’re living in today. Art such as Anniversary shouldn’t be held hostage out of fear of retaliation because it happens to hit too close to home, and the creatives behind it shouldn’t be silenced because it wouldn’t look good for them to support it. From the looks of it, all involved were happy making the movie, judging from posts and pictures made during its production, and it would’ve been a project worthy of standing behind.

When Anniversary hits streaming, the movie will likely get more attention, at least from audiences who didn’t know it existed, and hopefully it will spark a larger conversation about not only its plot, but also why its release was tampered with. We should be more scared that so many fear releasing art into the world because they’re afraid of the political backlash. That fear sadly indicates that the notion of free speech is fading away and turning into a nation ruled under one party and one ideal, which is heavily pushed in the movie, is becoming a stark reality.

Anniversary is currently playing in select theaters.

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