Call Me by Your Name had its world premiere on January 22, 2017, at the Sundance Film Festival.[119][120] International sales were handled by Memento Films International, a French company, which screened a promo reel at the American Film Market in November 2016.[39][121] Shortly before the film's Sundance premiere, Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide distribution rights for $6 million.[122] The deal was negotiated by WME Global and UTA Independent Film Group.[123] The film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2017;[64] the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2017;[14][78][124] and the New York Film Festival on October 3, 2017.[125] At the Beijing International Film Festival, it was originally scheduled for April 2018, but was removed from the official program with no explanation; Patrick Brzeski of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the decision reflected the government's "consistent stance of intolerance toward gay content".[126][127] That year, the film was honored at the Crema Film Festival: Aciman met the public on June 23, and Garrel joined the screening at the Crema Cathedral on June 30.[128]
From left to right: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Vanda Capriolo, Amira Casar, André Aciman, Esther Garrel, Victoire du Bois, and Peter Spears at the screening of Call Me by Your Name at the 2017 Berlin International Film FestivalCall Me by Your Name opened in limited release in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2017,[17] and the United States on November 24, 2017.[6] It expanded from four to thirty locations in the U.S. on December 15, 2017,[129] then to 114 theaters on December 22.[130] It screened in 174 theaters in January 2018,[131] before going into wide release in 815 theaters a few days before the Oscar nomination announcement ceremony on January 19, 2018.[132][133] On Oscars weekend, the film screened in 914 theaters, its widest release in the U.S.[134]
Warner Bros. Entertainment theatrically released the film in Italy on January 25, 2018, though home media distribution in Italy is distributed through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as well.[135][136][137] Special screenings and a public meet-and-greet with Guadagnino, Hammer and Chalamet took place in Crema between January 27 and 30.[137][138][139] The film opened in Brazil on January 18[140] and in France on February 28.[141] In March 2018, a distributor in Tunisia reported that the Ministry of Culture had banned the film as an "attack on liberties" because of its subject matter.[142][143] In Ireland, it became the longest-running film shown at the Light House Cinema in early June 2018, after a 30-week run.[144] In the Philippines, the film was screened accompanied by a live performance of its soundtrack by the Manila Symphony Orchestra on October 28.[145]
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures theatrically released the film in Taiwan on January 12, 2018, under the Buena Vista International label.[146]
Marketing
Sony Pictures Classics released an official poster for Call Me by Your Name on July 27, 2017.[147] The first theatrical trailer was released on August 1, 2017.[148][149] On October 11, 2017, Sony Pictures Classics released a teaser titled "Dance Party" to celebrate National Coming Out Day.[150] The 42-second clip, consisting of a single take of Hammer and Chalamet dancing to "Love My Way" in a bar, became a meme on Twitter.[151][152][153] Because of its use in the clip, "Love My Way" gained popularity on music-streaming websites. It rose 13% on on-demand streams during the two months before the film's release. In the week ending November 30, 2017, the song collected 177,000 on-demand streams, its biggest streaming week in the U.S.[154]
Reaction to the advertisement on social media was somewhat negative, largely because of Sony Pictures' misleading use of an image of Chalamet and Garrel instead of a focus on the protagonists' relationship.[155] Daniel Megarry of Gay Times described it as "an attempt to 'straight-wash' the movie's predominant same-sex romance".[156] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian called the ad a "disastrous attempt to push Oscar-buzzed Call Me by Your Name as a straight love story", and said the advert "belies an industry awkwardly denying queerness".[157] Sony Pictures Classics later aired several commercial spots to promote the film during its U.S.-wide expansion on January 19, 2018.[132] To promote the film in South Korea, Sony Pictures released several never-before-seen set photos and pastel promotional posters illustrated by Son Eunkyoung in March 2018.[158][159]
Home media
A pirated copy of an awards-screener DVD of Call Me by Your Name, along with copies of Last Flag Flying and fellow Oscar nominees I, Tonya and Lady Bird, were leaked onto file-sharing websites by the hacker group Hive-CM8 on December 24, 2017.[160][161][162] The film was officially released for digital download on February 27, 2018.[163] It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, 2018, with two bonus featurettes ("In Conversation with Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg & Luca Guadagnino" and "Snapshots of Italy: The Making of Call Me by Your Name"), an audio commentary track by Chalamet and Stuhlbarg, and the music video for "Mystery of Love".[101][163][164] The film made $2,100,758 in DVD sales and $1,856,909 in Blu-ray sales in the United States, for a total of $3,957,667 in home media sales.[165] In the United Kingdom, the DVD charted at number seven and the Blu-ray at number four on Top 100 sales for both formats.[166][167]
