The Greatest Night in Pop

Last updated
The Greatest Night in Pop
The Greatest Night in Pop poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Bao Nguyen
Starring
CinematographyCaleb Heller
Production
companies
Distributed by Netflix
Release date
  • January 29, 2024 (2024-01-29)
Running time
96 minutes
CountriesUnited States
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

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.

Contents

Release and distribution

The 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

On 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

AwardDateCategoryRecipientResultRef.
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 NottinghamNominated [7]
Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program Bao Nguyen Nominated
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program Richard GallagherNominated
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 10, 2024 Best Documentary Feature The Greatest Night in PopNominated [8]
Best Archival DocumentaryNominated
Best Historical DocumentaryWon
Best Music DocumentaryNominated
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 KleinNominated [9]
Cinema Eye Honors January 9, 2025 Outstanding Broadcast EditingNic Zimmerman, Will Znidaric and David BrodiePending [10]
Grammy Awards February 2, 2025 Best Music Film Bao Nguyen, Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken, Larry Klein, Julia Nottingham, Lionel Richie and Harriet SternbergPending [11]

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References

  1. The Greatest Night in Pop. 2024 Sundance Film Festival, January 25, 2024
  2. “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
  3. "The Greatest Night in Pop". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  4. "The Greatest Night in Pop". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  5. 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.
  6. Tallerico, Brian (February 7, 2024). "The Greatest Night in Pop". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  7. "76th Emmy Awards Complete Nominations List" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  8. Lewis, Hilary (October 14, 2024). "'Sugarcane' Leads Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. "2025 GRAMMYs: See The OFFICIAL Full Nominations List | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2024-11-10.