The Wives: Everything We Know About Jennifer Lawrence’s Real Housewives-Inspired Murder Mystery
There are a lot of great upcoming A24 movies on the way, and Real Housewives superfan Jennifer Lawrence is involved with what could be one of the most ridiculous and fun-to-watch of those soon-to-be-released films. At some point in the near future, the Academy Award-winning actress will get to do what anyone with an obsession and enough Hollywood pull would do: star in a movie inspired by the popular reality series. But, this won’t be your standard take on the franchise. Instead, the movie, which is titled The Wives, will be a murder mystery of some sort released by two of the biggest names in movies today: Apple and A24.
Don’t worry if this is the first you’re hearing about the new movie, because it sounds like this one might be a ways off. So, while we wait for what could be one of the funniest and most sinister movies featuring the Hunger Games star, we have put together a quick yet comprehensive rundown of everything that’s been said about the movie so far. That said, let’s break down what we know about The Wives…
What Is The Wives Release Date
Since word about the movie only started to spread in late spring 2024, we don’t yet know what A24 and Apple have planned for The Wives release date. It has also yet to be announced how the studios will release the upcoming Jennifer Lawrence movie.
The two previously teamed up for the 2022 drama, Causeway, which was given a limited theatrical release before becoming available to anyone with an Apple TV+ subscription the following week. That said, other Apple movies like Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon had extended theatrical runs before showing up on the streaming service.
The Wives Cast
When The Wives eventually finds its way to audiences, it will feature an ensemble cast that will hopefully match the size and intensity of those seen on the various shows in the Real Housewives franchise. For now, though, only one star has been announced and that is Jennifer Lawrence.
In June 2024, Deadline reported that Lawrence will lead The Wives cast in an undisclosed role. While it wasn’t announced what kind of character Lawrence would be playing in the upcoming movie, it was revealed that the No Hard Feelings star would also be producing the picture, which has become a common occurrence for her over the years.
Surely, Lawrence will surround herself with equally talented actors and actresses by the time everything is said and done, and maybe she’ll find some stars who have a shared obsession with all things related to The Real Housewives.
The Wives Is Described As A Murder Mystery In The Vein Of The Real Housewives
Though neither A24 nor Apple have come out and announced what exactly is going to happen in The Wives, a June 2024 report from Variety gives us a broadly painted picture of what to expect. According to the outlet, the movie has been described as a murder mystery that is in the vein of the Real Housewives series. That means we can expect key characteristics of the show – drama, day-drinking, excess, more drama, more day-drinking – but also a new whodunnit story when someone ends up dead.
With a multitude of awesome whodunit TV shows and even more great murder mystery movies having taken the world by storm the past few years, The Wives will surely have an audience once it arrives. And, who knows, with Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man landing on Netflix in 2025, maybe the two movies will pack a great one-two punch.
The Wives Is Being Written By Pulitzer Prize Finalists Michael Breslin And Patrick Foley
In the same Deadline article announcing that Jennifer Lawrence would be starring in and producing The Wives, it was also noted that A24 and Apple had chosen a top-notch team of writers to turn the pitch into a feature film. According to the outlet, Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley will pen the script for the murder mystery, which should be a lot of fun, considering their shared history.
In 2021, Breslin and Foley were named Pulitzer Prize finalists for their roles in writing Circle Jerk, a contemporary satire about modern society and how online culture dictates so much of our daily lives and gives people the power to do some truly outrageous things. Since then, they have worked on Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical and This American Wife.
Though screenwriters have been selected, the same can’t be said for the director, as there have been no announcements about who’ll be helming The Wives once it enters production.
Jennifer Lawrence Has Previously Professed Her Love And Admiration For The Real Housewives Reality TV Series
As a longtime fan of The Real Housewives franchise, the star has both sung the praises of the series and its spinoffs and also drawn the ire of cast members in the past. Regardless of her thoughts on the various stars, the Silver Linings Playbook actress has professed her love for the property and everything about it.
When speaking with E! News on the 2024 Golden Globes red carpet, the Hollywood A-lister opened up about Bravo’s Real Housewives of Salt Lake City finale, saying she would give the cast her Oscar after they all gave such tremendous performances. This combination of admiration and “tell it like it is” mentality held by Lawrence over the years could very well make The Wives an amazing and spot-on satire of one of the most popular franchises on TV.
This Isn’t The Only Apple And A24 Collaboration On The Way
Apple and A24 have formed a steady relationship these past few years with Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces and The Tragedy of MacBeth, and The Wives will be the next step in their shared growth. However, the upcoming murder mystery isn’t the only collaboration the two have cooking up together.
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, who have worked extensively together in the past, will team up once again sometime soon for High and Low, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film of the same name. However, this isn’t one of Kurosawa’s famous samurai films, but instead a story about a kidnapping that puts an executive in a tense situation with major ramifications no matter his decision.
Expect to hear much more about The Wives in the coming weeks and months. While we wait, there are still plenty of great 2024 movies set for release throughout the rest of the year.
