The Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, hits streaming platforms today, two months to the day after it opened in theaters on Christmas.
It's available on premium video-on-demand platforms such as Apple TV, Prime Video and others. It's expected to hit Disney+ between mid-March and early April.
If you want the physical release, it will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on April 1st. It will contain bonus features including the Making of A Complete Unknown with commentary from director James Mangold.
Since its release, A Complete Unknown has taken in over $104-million, making it the eighth highest grossing biopic behind:
- Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen ($910.8-million)
- Elvis ($288.7)
- Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A ($201.6)
- Rocketman - Elton John ($195.3)
- Walk the Line - Johnny Cash ($186.8)
- Bob Marley: One Love ($180.8)
- Ray (Charles) - $124
A Complete Unknown has also given a boost to Dylan's streaming numbers and physical sales. Prior to the film he averaged a million streams a day. Following the film's release, that rose to four-million a day.
And, due to positive reviews, it received numerous nominations, including Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Timothee Chalamet, who portrays Dylan, won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday, and he's up for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger is up for Best Supporting Actor, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez for Best Supporting Actress. The Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday.
While A Complete Unknown is based on the 2015 book by Elijah Wald, Dylan Goes Electric, some liberties were taken to condense the story, which focuses on Dylan's arrival in New York City in 1961 through his 1965 electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival. Among them:
- Dylan meeting his heroes Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie at the same time in Woody’s hospital room. That's how he met Guthrie, but he had previously met Seeger.
- Dylan never performed with blues singer Big Bill Morganfield on Pete Seeger's TV show.
- It's not a known fact that Dylan slept on Seeger's couch when he first came to New York City.
- During the scene where he goes electric at Newport, someone in the audience yells "Judas." That happened afterwards in Manchester, England. And Seeger didn't try to take an axe to the cables when Dylan went electric. He once stated that he was telling the soundman to fix his distorted vocals, not to turn him off.
- Dylan did not meet Johnny Cash for the first time at Newport in 1965. They first met in 1963.