Curated playlist

Satellite Award–winning films

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingMany stars turned down Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring. Sean Connery said he did not understand the plot.
The Dark KnightThe Dark Knight, a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, begins with a bank robbery that turns on its own crew. The bank belongs to the mafia in Gotham City. The masked robbers betray and kill one another until a single man…
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingThe Return of the King won all eleven Oscars it was nominated for. No fantasy film had won Best Picture before it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersGollum was first planned as a voice only, played by Andy Serkis. Actors did better with him on set.
Avatar: Fire and AshAvatar: Fire and Ash is the third film in James Cameron's Avatar series. In December 2022, word spread that its first cut ran nine hours. Cameron later clarified the figure. The nine hours covered three films of about three hours each:…
Once Upon a Time in HollywoodOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood is a 2019 film by Quentin Tarantino, and its ending was guarded like a state secret. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act locked in a safe. Besides Tarantino himself, only Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot…
Oppenheimer (film)The teaser for the film Oppenheimer, released on the 28th of July 2022, carried a live countdown to 5:29 a.m. Mountain time on the 16th of July 2023. That hour marked the 78th anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon.…
Inglourious BasterdsInglourious Basterds begins with a conversation in English that ends in a massacre. In 1941, an Austrian SS colonel named Hans Landa questions a French farmer about a fugitive Jewish family. The family's youngest member, Shosanna, escapes.…
Spirited AwayIn Spirited Away, a girl's parents turn into pigs in an abandoned resort town. Ten-year-old Chihiro is left alone.
Dune (2021 film)Dune, the 2021 film directed by Denis Villeneuve, began with a filmmaker who doubted he would ever get to make it. In September 2016 the Canadian director said, "a longstanding dream of mine is to adapt Dune, but it's a long process to get…
Avatar: The Way of WaterAvatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's 2022 science fiction sequel, contains an underwater scene for which Kate Winslet held her breath for more than seven minutes. That broke the record for a breath hold during a filmed scene, which…
Titanic (1997 film)Rather than cut Titanic, James Cameron gave up his $8 million director's salary.
Hamnet (film)Hamnet, a 2025 historical drama directed by Chloé Zhao, opens with a single written line about the English town of Stratford. In Stratford, the names Hamnet and Hamlet were treated as one and the same. The film then follows William…
Dune: Part TwoDune: Part Two had its first screening on the 16th of January 2024, in a palliative care home in Saguenay, Quebec, weeks before any red carpet. The audience was one dying man who had said he wanted to see the film. His wish traveled…
The Wind RisesIn The Wind Rises, a boy with weak eyes builds planes instead of flying them. It follows engineer Jiro Horikoshi.
Knives OutKnives Out, the 2019 mystery written and directed by Rian Johnson, builds its plot around a nurse named Marta Cabrera who cannot lie without vomiting. Every police question and every chat with a suspect becomes a danger for her. Around her…
One Battle After AnotherOne Battle After Another, written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, sent about 1.5 million feet of film through its cameras. Those were VistaVision cameras, and cinematographer Michael Bauman said the system had not seen that…
Wicked (2024 film)Wicked, the 2024 musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu, drew some unwelcome aerial visitors early in production. Paparazzi flew over the Munchkinland set in Ivinghoe, England, by hang glider, with GoPro cameras strapped to their…
Frankenstein (2025 film)Frankenstein, the 2025 film directed by Guillermo del Toro, began as an act of avoidance. In 2016 del Toro confessed that part of him had for more than 25 years "chickened out of making it." He felt that finishing the film would end the…
Top Gun: MaverickTop Gun: Maverick contains a shot that nearly took the roof off a building. For a low-pass scene with the actor Ed Harris, a Blue Angels jet skimmed a test range at China Lake at under 50 feet and around 450 knots. On the 20th and last…
The Devil Wears Prada (film)The Devil Wears Prada, a 2006 American comedy-drama directed by David Frankel, has a famous villain who made her entrance in a whisper. At a table read in New York, Meryl Streep spoke Miranda Priestly's first line so softly that the whole…
The Boy and the HeronThe Boy and the Heron reached Japanese theaters with one poster and no trailer.
Everything Everywhere All at OnceEverything Everywhere All at Once began as a script for a male lead, written with Jackie Chan in mind.
Tron: AresTron: Ares is a 2025 American science fiction action film directed by Joachim Rønning, and it is built around a countdown of 29 minutes. That is the longest a digital construct can survive in the real world before it disappears. A hidden…
Sinners (2025 film)Sinners is a 2025 horror film from the writer, director and producer Ryan Coogler. It opens with someone describing a kind of music 'so pure it can pierce the veil between life and death, past and future.' The film then spends the rest of…
Good Will HuntingGood Will Hunting began life as a homework assignment that came back far too long. Matt Damon, in his fifth year at Harvard, was asked for a one-act play for a playwriting class. He turned in a script of around 40 pages instead. That…
Barbie (film)The film Barbie used up the world's remaining supply of one shade of pink paint. The shade was Pantone 219.
Lincoln (film)In the film Lincoln, agents offer federal jobs to win votes to end slavery. The amendment passed by two votes.
F1 (film)F1, marketed as F1 the Movie, is a 2025 American sports drama directed by Joseph Kosinski. Brad Pitt plays a Formula One driver who returns after a 30-year absence to rescue his former teammate's underdog team from collapse. Damson Idris,…
Alita: Battle AngelAlita: Battle Angel began as a website address registered around June 2000. The film did not arrive until 2019.
Marty SupremeMarty Supreme is a 2025 American sports comedy-drama directed by Josh Safdie, and its title is a brand name that exists only inside its own story. In 1952, a young New York table tennis player named Marty Mauser pitches bright orange…