Drive My Car to Premiere on HBO Max in March

WarnerMedia OneFifty has acquired the Japanese road drama Drive My Car to premiere on HBO Max on March 2, 2022. The film is directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Takamasa Oe, adapted from the short story of the same name by Haruki Murakami.

A Sideshow and Janus Films release, the film received nominations for the 94th Academy Awards in four categories: Best Picture, Directing, International Feature Film, and Adapted Screenplay. It is the first Japanese film ever to be nominated for Best Picture.

Drive My Car follows widowed actor/director Yūsuke Kafuku as he directs a multilingual production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima while grappling with the sudden death of his wife.

Mandated by the festival’s producers, Yusuke is assigned a chauffeur, a young woman named Misaki, to take him to and from rehearsal each day.

With the help of Misaki, Yusuke begins to face the haunting mysteries left behind by his wife during their long drives.

“As WarnerMedia’s ‘artist studio where innovation happens,’ OneFifty has built a track record of identifying incredible artists whose vision we believe in and acquiring their extraordinary, groundbreaking content,” said Axel Caballero, Head of WarnerMedia OneFifty.

Caballero added: “Drive My Car is no exception. It is a beautiful masterpiece – a subtle but haunting work of artistic vision and innovation by a talented filmmaker and creative team.”

Drive My Car is one of the most honored international films of the year. Its world premiere was at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it won three awards, including Best Screenplay. The film won the 2021 Golden Globe for Best Picture – Non-English Language and the 2021 Gotham Award for Best International Feature.

In addition to its four Academy Award nominations, it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice Awards, Best International Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, and received three BAFTA nominations, including Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.

Drive My Car also won 47 critics awards, including Best Film from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics. The film has grossed over one million dollars at the US box office during its robust theatrical rollout.

WarnerMedia OneFifty’s acquisition of Drive My Car joins a catalog of critically acclaimed content, including this year’s NAACP Image Award-nominated live-action short film When the Sun Sets, 2022 Spirit Awards nominated film This Is Not a War Story, 2021 Oscar-nominated short White Eye, and Sundance Sloan winner Son of Monarchs, among other groundbreaking content.

Negotiations for Drive My Car were finalized by Leslie Cohen, SVP of Content Acquisitions for HBO/HBO Max, with Chris Grunden, also SVP of Content Acquisitions for HBO/HBO Max.