Flavorwire: Come Friday, audiences in the United States and Canada will have the opportunity to take in Annihilation, a thrilling and scary new sci-fi movie that sounds, on paper, like a sure thing. It’s based on the first in a series of popular novels. It’s written and directed by Alex Garland, whose previous film was Ex Machina, a critical success and minor financial hit; this marks his ascendance into big, studio pictures. And its cast includes such marquee names as Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Gina Rodriguez. Sounds like a hit, right?
3 comments:
I am an advocate for all movies being available on Netflix, so I can’t really say that I’m against them putting Annihilation on Netflix, but I do see where the author is coming from. Also, just as a side note, I thought it was funny that they said it’d be available in every country except China. Back to the topic at hand, I think the author of this article really really likes going to the movies and I understand their desire for the surround sound, large-screen experience, but if the company thinks the better deal is to sell to Netflix, then they’re probably right. This movie does sound like a hit, with an all-star cast and the latest graphics software, it sounds like a movie that a lot of people would be excited to see, and I am perfectly content watching that movie from my computer screen. I do think it would be cool, however, for Netflix to have their own theater. Like the day a new movie premieres on Netflix, they can offer it in their theater, and people that pay for the subscription could have access. It could even increase the number of people that subscribe to Netflix. That’s just my food for thought.
I wonder how Garland feels about this business deal, and I wonder if he had any say in the way Paramount handled this situation? I know basically nothing about how the film world works in terms of earnings from ticket sales and how films make money from streaming sites like Netflix, but as director, I would feel distraught if the studio supporting me was selling my film to a streaming sight so soon. It makes me think that Paramount has just made the assumption based on the past works of Garland and jumping the gun to try to make some return off the film.
I am also disappointed with what this films is based on the author's description. I got excited when I saw the thumbnail of women and read that the team in the movie is a group of leading women in science. But if Natalie Portman's character is the only one with substantial depth and emotion, it just makes it seems that the film is taking advantage of the star power they have for the film and not fully developing the rest of the movie for other characters. But who knows, this is just the review from one person. I will most likely take advantage of Paramount's sale to Netflix, and find out if it is a worthwhile film for myself when it comes out online.
This movie looks really interesting, and I can’t wait to see it. However, this does highlight an interesting and potentially disturbing trend in the film industry that medium budget movies seem to have a tricky time being successful at the box office. The movies that are the most successful seem to be low budget films (Get Out) that make huge profits, or major blockbusters with huge production budgets (Star Wars, Avengers, Black Panther). There are very few medium budget films that seem to be hitting the mark nowadays and even fewer movies from non-established properties that seem to be successful. There is a reason why Paramount has been making Mission Impossible movies with the same effective plot, premise, and star for over 22 years, or why James Bond movies still keep getting made. People like established properties that are familiar. Films like Annihilation are challenging and different, which to a studio equals risk. Hopefully services like Moviepass which are investing in the theater experience will create innovative new ways to get people into theaters, so that movies like Annihilation keep getting made, and more people will see them. At the same time, it also shows the value of Netflix that they want to control as much content as possible, so they will invest heavily in content that gets people to use their service.
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