Scarlett Johansson is a major movie star, having started her career as a child actress and starring in a series of critically and commercially successful films. The actress recently certified her icon status by becoming the highest-grossing actor of all time, and now she’s ready to focus on being behind the camera as well.
For most of her career, Johansson focused on acting, but she also flirted with producing and now directing. She first directed a short film in 2009, These Vagabond Shoes, as well as an Ellie Goulding concert film, American Express Unstaged, but her official feature film is Eleanor the Great. After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, production company Wayfarer Studios announced Eleanor the Great is heading to theaters on Sept. 26.
Related
Scarlett Johansson Reveals Which Jurassic World Star Gave Her a Long Welcome Email
Jurassic World Rebirth star Scarlett Johansson shares that she received a warm welcome from one of the franchise’s leading stars.
Eleanor the Great follows a 94-year-old woman from Florida, Eleanor Morgenstein, who, after suffering a devastating loss, moves to New York City and befriends a 19-year-old. The film stars June Squibb in the titular role, as well as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht, and Erin Kellyman.
Eleanor the Great premiered during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 20 and received a five-minute standing ovation, per Variety. However, once the reviews started coming up, the film had an unimpressive debut score on Rotten Tomatoes, where it holds a rating of 60% out of 25 reviews, which is just on the threshold for a “fresh” score. Since the film has yet to hit theaters, there is no audience score available yet. The film hadn’t revealed its release date until now, as Wayfarer Studios announced the release in the U.S. and Canada.
When introducing the film at Cannes, Johansson called the premiere “really a dream come true.” She further detailed, “When you make a film that’s an independent film like this, no one’s doing it for the money — surprise, surprise. Really, everyone that came together for this film came together because they loved the story, the script so much. It’s a film about many things: it’s about friendship, it’s about grief, it’s about forgiveness. And I think those are all themes that we can use a lot more of these days.”
Related
Scarlett Johansson Found Her Early Roles Deeply Unfulfilling Due To The ‘Male Gaze’
Scarlett Johansson found herself in a slump after starring in Lost in Translation.
Johansson concluded, “It’s a film that I feel is historic and also very timely now, and so I hope that you all carry it with you the way that I carry Eleanor with me.”
Scarlett Johansson Is the Highest-Grossing Actor of All Time
Scarlett Johansson has had many iconic performances in cult classic films like 2003’s Lost in Translation, 2008’s The Other Boleyn Girl, and 2013’s Her. She also received two Oscar nominations the same year for 2019’s Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit. Aside from her critically acclaimed roles, she is also a widely profitable actor.
Following the major success of Jurassic World Rebirth, in which Johansson stars in the leading role, as well as her roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson was just named the highest-grossing actor of all time at the global box office, per The Numbers. She surpassed several MCU alums like Zoe Saldaña, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Pratt, and Robert Downey Jr., with a total of $9.5 billion from all her films.
Eleanor the Great premieres in theaters on Sept. 26.
Source: Wayfarer Studios, Variety, The Numbers