Good Night Oppy

The film tells the story of Opportunity, nicknamed Oppy, a Mars rover launched in 2003 that was expected to operate for only 90 sols but explored Mars for nearly 15 years. The film features archival and interview footage with scientists and engineers and re-creations of the rover's treks over the Martian landscape in search of water.{{cite news |last1=Shachat |first1=Sarah |title=Finding Life on Mars: The Sounds of 'Good Night Oppy' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/goodnight-oppy-mars-rover-sound-1234778568/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=Indiewire |date=3 November 2022}}{{cite news |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Michael |title='Good Night Oppy': A feel-good film about a little robot that could |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/11/02/good-night-oppy-movie-review/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=2 November 2022}}

In 2019, Film 45 partnered with Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Television to tell the story of Opportunity. In March 2020, based on the original pitch from executive producers Stephen Neely and Max Wagner,https://www.tiff.net/events/good-night-oppy Brandon Carroll of Film 45 met with Ryan White and producer Jessica Hargrave to discuss the project. In November 2020, the filmmakers approached potential distributors with a 17-minute sizzle reel.{{cite news |last1=Keegan |first1=Rebecca |title=NASA and Hollywood Shoot For the Stars With Mars Rover Documentary 'Good Night Oppy' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/mars-rover-documentary-good-night-oppy-telluride-film-festival-1235212650/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=5 September 2022}} In March 2021, it was announced that Amazon Studios, Film 45, Amblin Television and Tripod Media would be co-producing Good Night Oppy, a feature about the Mars exploration rover Opportunity.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/03/mars-documentary-good-night-oppy-amazon-studios-amblin-tv-film-45-1234707884/ |title=Mars Exploration Documentary 'Good Night Oppy' In Works From Amazon Studios, Amblin TV & Film 45|first=Erik|last=Pedersen|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=March 5, 2021|access-date=March 5, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.varietyinsight.com/production_restart_full_view.php?track_id=188766 | title=Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - Good Night Oppy|website=Variety Insight |access-date=March 15, 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315052415/https://www.varietyinsight.com/production_restart_full_view.php?track_id=188766 |archive-date=March 15, 2021}} It was acquired by Amazon Studios in November 2021, and completed the following month.

The film is narrated by Angela Bassett, with visual effects work from Industrial Light & Magic,{{cite news |last1=Kenigsberg |first1=Ben |title='Good Night Oppy' Review: Life (Kind of) on Mars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/movies/good-night-oppy-review.html |access-date=8 November 2022 |work=New York Times |date=3 November 2022}} and archival footage provided by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was written by director Ryan White and editor Helen Kearns.

The film's score is by Blake Neely.{{cite news |last1=Grierson |first1=Tim |title='Good Night Oppy': Telluride Review |url=https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/good-night-oppy-telluride-review/5174008.article |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=Screen Daily |date=2 September 2022}} It also features the pop songs "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles, "Roam" by The B-52's, "SOS" by ABBA, "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!{{cite news |last1=Barsanti |first1=Chris |title=Good Night Oppy Review: Walking on Sunshine |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/good-night-oppy-review-ryan-white/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=Slant |date=31 October 2022}}

Good Night Oppy premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and made its international debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2022.{{cite news |last1=Morfoot |first1=Addie |title='Good Night Oppy' Director Ryan White Talks NASA, Robots and Mars |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/festivals/good-night-oppy-toronto-1235368707/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=Variety |date=12 September 2022}} It was released in US theaters on November 4, 2022, and began streaming on Prime Video on November 23, 2022.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 92 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "There are more illuminating documentaries about space exploration, but that doesn't diminish Good Night Oppy{{'}}s infectious awe of the cosmos."{{Cite Rotten Tomatoes|title= Good Night Oppy (2022) |id=good_night_oppy |type=m|access-date=December 10, 2022}} On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.{{cite web |title=Good Night Oppy Reviews |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/good-night-oppy |website=Metacritic |access-date=December 10, 2022}}

Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times wrote, "While descriptions of the aging robots as experiencing arthritis and memory loss are perhaps too cute, by the end of 'Good Night Oppy,' Opportunity and Spirit have become no less lovable as characters than R2-D2 or Wall-E." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post awarded it two and a half out of four stars, writing, "It's such a feel-good little story that Oppy might instill in you the same warm and fuzzy feeling of gratification that she obviously has in her NASA family."

Aurora Amidon of Paste wrote that the film is "sentimental but rarely over the top, dazzling to look at, frequently dabbles in the realm of the nail-biting thriller and, on top of all that, it's highly informative."{{cite news |last1=Amidon |first1=Aurora |title=Good Night Oppy Finds a Heartfelt Ode to Human Connection in a Mars Rover |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/good-night-oppy-review/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=Paste |date=2 November 2022 |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206085333/https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/good-night-oppy-review/ |url-status=dead }} Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, writing, "To get across the magnitude of what his subjects saw and did, White pours on the commercial filmmaking devices from start to finish, in the manner of fun-for-all-ages summer blockbusters that used to dominate the box office in the 1980s and '90s," adding that "the score by Blake Neely has that John Williams magic-and-wonder vibe."{{cite news |last1=Zoller Seitz |first1=Matt |title=Good Night Oppy |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/good-night-oppy-movie-review-2022 |access-date=8 November 2022 |publisher=RogerEbert.com |date=4 November 2022}}

The film was named best documentary feature at the 7th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.{{cite news |last1=Nordyke |first1=Kimberly |title='Good Night Oppy' Wins Top Prize at Critics Choice Documentary Awards |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/good-night-oppy-critics-choice-documentary-awards-winners-1235261090/ |access-date=3 February 2023 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=13 November 2022}}

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{{Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Documentary Feature}}

{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}}

{{Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary}}

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{{Mars rovers}}

Category:2020s American films

Category:American documentary films

Category:Documentary films about the space program of the United States

Category:Films scored by Blake Neely

Category:Mars Exploration Rover mission

Category:Mars in film