The Greatest Night in Pop is a 2024 documentary film directed by Bao Nguyen. The film is about the creation of the renowned pop song "We Are the World" and its recording in 1985. The film features new interviews with various people involved in the song, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, and Cyndi Lauper.
| The Greatest Night in Pop | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Bao Nguyen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Caleb Heller |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Countries | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Release and distribution
editThe world premiere of The Greatest Night in Pop took place on January 19, 2024, at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the Special Screenings.[1] On January 29, 2024, Netflix released the film on its service.[2]
Reception
editOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A briskly paced celebration of a one-of-a-kind musical moment, The Greatest Night in Pop uncovers new stories while reminding viewers of the humanitarian vision that made it all happen."[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[4]
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Looking back all these years later, it's something of a miracle that, in the days before texts and emails, when you had to communicate by fax and messenger and landline phone calls, so many performers who were used to being the biggest star in the room agreed to get together on relatively short notice and figure out a path to record one of the most impactful singles in music history."[5] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com also gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Music bio-docs may be running out of steam, but The Greatest Night in Pop works by being specific and enlightening."[6]
Accolades
edit| Award | Date | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | September 7, 2024 | Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special | Amit Dey, Larry Klein, Harriet Sternberg, Lionel Richie, Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken & Julia Nottingham | Nominated | [7] |
| Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program | Bao Nguyen | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program | Richard Gallagher | Nominated | |||
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 10, 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | The Greatest Night in Pop | Nominated | [8] |
| Best Archival Documentary | Nominated | ||||
| Best Historical Documentary | Won | ||||
| Best Music Documentary | Nominated | ||||
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 20, 2024 | Music Documentary – Special Program | Bao Nguyen, Julia Nottingham, George Hencken, Bruce Eskowitz, Lionel Richie, Harriet Sternberg & Larry Klein | Nominated | [9] |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 9, 2025 | Outstanding Broadcast Editing | Nic Zimmerman, Will Znidaric and David Brodie | Pending | [10] |
| Grammy Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Music Film | Bao Nguyen, Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken, Larry Klein, Julia Nottingham, Lionel Richie and Harriet Sternberg | Pending | [11] |
References
edit- ^ The Greatest Night in Pop. 2024 Sundance Film Festival, January 25, 2024
- ^ “We Are the World” Doc The Greatest Night in Pop Doc Is the Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Music Video Netflix Tudum, January 9, 2024
- ^ "The Greatest Night in Pop". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ "The Greatest Night in Pop". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ Roeper, Richard (January 27, 2024). "'The Greatest Night in Pop' takes a terrific backstage look at 'We Are the World'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ Tallerico, Brian (February 7, 2024). "The Greatest Night in Pop". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ "76th Emmy Awards Complete Nominations List" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
- ^ Lewis, Hilary (October 14, 2024). "'Sugarcane' Leads Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
- ^ Willman, Chris (November 6, 2024). "Hollywood Music in Media Awards Noms Led by 'Emilia Pérez' and 'Blitz,' With Elton John, Hans Zimmer and Scores More Among the Nominees". Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 24, 2024). "Cinema Eye Honors: 'Girls State', 'Ren Faire' Lead Broadcast Nominees; Audience Choice Award Longlist Revealed". Deadline. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "2025 GRAMMYs: See The OFFICIAL Full Nominations List | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
