![]() Paramount, the studio behind Annihilation, started to get cold feet after test screenings for the film suggested mainstream audiences found Garland’s film overly chilly and intellectually complex – quite what manner of blockbuster they were expecting from him after Ex Machina, not exactly a candyfloss rollercoaster itself, one can only imagine. What happened, then? Annihilation’s surprise, do-not-pass-go swerve into the streaming realm portends an interesting, somewhat alarming future for grownup genre cinema: films that are too large and flashy for arthouses, but whose adult inclinations or deviance from formula make major distributors commercially nervous. Watching it at home, I missed the vast, dark expanse of a cinematic environment for its gasp-worthy effects and shuddering sound design – it may be intimately, brain-scramblingly idea-driven, but Garland has fashioned it first and foremost as big-screen spectacle. Tensely following an intrepid group of female scientists into an uncannily mutating stretch of wilderness from which almost no man comes out alive, it’s a larger-scale follow-up to Garland’s smart, stark, Oscar-winning directorial debut, Ex Machina, and should have doubled down on that film’s sleeper success in cinemas. Feverishly awaited by cinephiles and sci-fi geeks alike, Alex Garland’s Annihilation was not supposed to be a direct-to-Netflix release internationally. Seeing Garland’s interpretation of this story, which differs greatly from the book while being equally excellent, is the greatest victory despite the tumultuous path to getting on our screens.Īnnihilation is out March 12 on Netflix Australia.Ĭameron Williams is a writer and film critic based in Melbourne who occasionally blabs about movies on ABC radio.T onight, at the stroke of midnight, one of the year’s best films will be readily, quietly available to pyjama-clad night owls at home – while over in the US, it is still screening to admittedly sparse crowds in multiplexes. Yet it’s in our nature to destroy what we don’t understand, which is where Annihilation gets transcendental with its sci-fi premise.Īnnihilation is going to stay with me for a long time in my own thoughts, dreams and nightmares. ![]() Like all great science fiction, Annihilation examines our self-destructive nature and looks at how depression, grief and sadness can empower us to face the shadows of the unknown. Garland has created a film reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing but with a touch of David Lynch thrown for one of the best legal highs you’re going to get in 2018. A visceral journey into a mysterious landscape that’s lush with trippy visuals and an unnerving premise. It doesn’t matter if you see this film in a cinema or on Netflix - just make sure you see it.Īnnihilation is a spectacular work of science fiction that not only gets under your skin but it becomes part of it. Annihilation’s fate mirrors the release of mother! - a movie that, despite a divisive reaction and lacklustre box office, still showed a studio was willing to back a risky film from Darren Aaronofsky. The reaction to Annihilation in America is bringing into question the future of adult orientated films that’s aren’t part of franchises or cinematic universes. For all the chest beating going on at the moment, American audiences didn’t show up for Annihilation despite rave reviews and the promise of being one of the only places to see this film in a cinema. Releasing in the shadow of the record-breaking Black Panther was not ideal, but Annihilation is a female-led science fiction film - not a comedy or drama - that pops at a time when the call for greater representation in the film industry is actually being heard. Sadly, Paramount’s worries were justified when Annihilation hit cinemas in America on 23 February and delivered an opening weekend of just $11 million. The deal allowed to Paramount to save money on promoting Annihilation worldwide because they’d only need to spend cash on advertising it as cinema release in three countries.Īnother factor is that Paramount suffered one of their worst years at the box office in 2017, ending the year at a financial loss thanks to Baywatch, Ghost in the Shell and Transformers: The Last Knight. Paramount already had a relationship with Netflix because they offloaded another film, The Cloverfield Paradox, which dropped as a surprise release on Netflix during the 2018 Super Bowl. Netflix offered to take the film in a deal that’s rumoured to cover a good chunk of Annihilation’s $55 million budget. Paramount began to freak out about the feud, and Garland wasn’t going to budge on the changes, so they put Annihilation up for sale with eyes on the major streaming services.
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