{"id":333250,"date":"2025-12-06T03:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333250\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:44:10","slug":"jeff-buckley-documentary-becomes-box-office-hit-ahead-of-oscar-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333250\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Buckley Documentary Becomes Box Office Hit Ahead Of Oscar Push"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt\u2019s Never Over, Jeff Buckley<\/a>, Amy Berg<\/a>\u2019s Oscar-contending documentary about the late musician and singer, has become something of a box office phenomenon even before it opens theatrically abroad.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film distributed by Magnolia Pictures<\/a> in the U.S. has earned nearly $1.5 million so far, virtual all of it at domestic theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think this film kind of defied what the industry thought it would do,\u201d Berg tells Deadline. \u201cBut for us, we felt there was an audience there and we had this really interesting and very connective way to reach the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film has found a strong base of support with people born after Buckley\u2019s untimely death in 1997 at the age of 30.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Gen Z audience\u2026 they left their house multiple times to go see this movie,\u201d Berg says. \u201cI think it was just because the film has a very authentic take. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s commissioned by the estate. I had final cut, and it\u2019s just a really uncensored look at an artist that I think really needed to have his due.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBerg adds, \u201cWe had so many TikTok repurposed videos of people that went over and saw the film multiple times, showing their tickets. People were documenting their experience, going to see the film, how they felt before, how they felt after, what it means to them. And it just kind of had this really positive effect on Jeff\u2019s legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMagnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tA striking mini poster \u2013 made available in lobby card size to moviegoers for free at many screenings \u2013 helped get the word spreading. So did a strategy that saw early theatrical showings feature a bonus mini concert by Buckley, whose musicianship and extraordinary vocal talent made him one of the most unique artists of his time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe restored 26 minutes of live footage from an intimate club show that Jeff played in 1994 right before [the album] Grace was released,\u201d producer Ryan Heller notes. \u201cWe worked closely with our partners at Magnolia\u2026 [including] that at the end of the film after the credits as a kind of bonus. And that was something we cleared only for theatrical use. And for us, it is a little bit about helping to create some urgency that I think is always the thing that in the theatrical marketplace you\u2019re looking for, like, \u2018Why do I need to go now?\u2019 That was something that felt, well, it\u2019s an ephemeral experience that was only going to last for a couple of weeks in theaters. And I think that had a true effect on the box office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jeff<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJeff Buckley on guitar in 1993.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Merri Cyr\/ Courtesy: Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong Gen Z fans of the film is Sombr, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter who with his flowing locks and chiseled looks could pass for the reincarnation of Buckley.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe heard two days ago, Sombr, this is his favorite movie of the year,\u201d Berg shares. \u201cSombr, who\u2019s the biggest kind of Gen Z thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filmmaker has several theories for the resonance of the film for multiple generations.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[Buckley] was woke way before woke was a thing, and he was a feminist when it wasn\u2019t cool to be a feminist,\u201d Berg observes. \u201cOne of the podcasters [with whom we did an interview] said there\u2019s a universal language called Jeff Buckley, and I think that that is very true. People have their own personal relationships with him that were only on their phones, I guess, up to this point, especially the young kids who had never seen him live. And so being in the room with other kids, there was just this kind of communal thing that was happening and it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Musician<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMusician Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMagnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the film explores, Buckley grew up in the shadow of his father, Tim Buckley, a singer-songwriter of some renown who died at age 28 of a drug overdose. The elder Buckley was never a part of his son\u2019s life and Jeff Buckley chafed at any comparisons between them. But one striking fact couldn\u2019t be ignored \u2013 both Buckleys possessed voices of exceptional range. Jeff Buckley initially focused all his energy on guitar, becoming an acclaimed instrumentalist. But when he finally felt comfortable lending his own voice to his compositions, he stunned people with his multi-octave capabilities.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis voice just magically gets into your soul,\u201d Berg told us at the Sundance Film Festival<\/a>, where her documentary premiered. Musician Ben Harper, a friend of Buckley\u2019s, appears in the documentary and he also spoke with Deadline at Sundance about his late compadre.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou just hadn\u2019t heard anything like [his voice] until he came along,\u201d Harper remarked. \u201cIt was as singular an instrument as has existed in the world of sound\u2026 It was equally vulnerable and fragile. And to have those two counterpoints all within the same instrument was just something unheard of\u2026 To be that raw, but that elegant at the same time, and to be that powerful yet that fragile at the same time was just shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jeff<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJeff Buckley with his mom, Mary Guibert.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMagnolia Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tMary Guibert, Jeff Buckley\u2019s mom, serves as an executive producer on the film (as Berg mentioned above, the filmmaker retained final cut on the project). Berg first approach Guibert years ago about the potential documentary.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSince 2008, I have been trying to get access to this story,\u201d Berg said at Sundance. \u201cAnd I finally met up with Mary in 2010, but she didn\u2019t give me the rights for another nine years. But every time I finished a film, I would reach out to Mary. She did share the archive with me back then, and I was blown away by the voicemail messages and the DAT recordings and his candor, and I just kept at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"(L-R)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Director Amy Berg and Mary Guibert attend the \u2018It\u2019s Never Over, Jeff Buckley\u2019 premiere at Sundance on January 24, 2025 in Park City, Utah.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeilson Barnard\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s Never Over, Jeff Buckley just began streaming on HBO Max. And it\u2019s impressive box office totals are about to be swelled by theatrical distribution around the world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUniversal is so excited about the theatrical, they have 20 countries committed right now starting with Denmark, France, England, Italy, there are some South American countries,\u201d Berg says. Another sign of the film\u2019s impact \u2013 downloads of Buckley\u2019s music. On Spotify, the singer\u2019s tune \u201cLover, You Should\u2019ve Come Over\u201d has recorded 400 million streams.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s so much politics and so much negativity in the world right at this moment,\u201d Berg observes, \u201cand I think this film speaks to something that we all need, which is kindness and love and art and escapism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Amy Berg\u2019s Oscar-contending documentary about the late musician and singer, has become something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[168504,115082,88,42501,86095,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-333250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-amy-berg","9":"tag-awardsdoc","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jeff-buckley","12":"tag-magnolia-pictures","13":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}