Netflix changes the rule - again
THE last few years have seen a genuine revolution in the way we watch TV.
The once clear demarcation between movies and telly has been largely eradicated.
Let’s put it this way, when Hollywood actors once retreated to the lucrative obscurity of small screen shows, it was assumed that they had decided to park their ambitions in return for just cashing a cheque.
The genuinely gamechanging success of HBO exploded that myth and gave rise to showrunners such as The Wire’s David Simon and OZ’s Tom Fontana, men who ruled the set of their TV show in a manner that owed more to a traditional Hollywood movie director.
Netflix blurred those lines even further, and today sees another example of how things are changing.
Annihilation drops today, starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac and the brilliant Jennifer Jason Leigh, and it looks brilliant.
Based on the bestselling sci-f novel by Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation sees a strange, otherworldly phenomenon occurring in America.
A seemingly different dimension has appeared, creatures are strange and magical and anyone who ventures inside is never seen again. And it’s spreading across America.
Portman and Jason Leigh lead a team inside the ‘shimmer’ and, as anyone who is aware of the book will know, it all gets very weird and deep and metaphysical.
It was also shot and planned as a film for theatrical release, but Paramount studios apparently decided that it was too ‘intellectual’ for the average popcorn-chewing movie-goer.
This follows on from the recent surprise release of The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix rather than a more traditional cinema release and it’s another example of the intriguing new trend of releasing potentially ‘difficult’ movies on the small screen, because the studios assume those viewers are smarter than the people who buy tickets for the cinema.
It’s all a bit insulting towards movie-goers, and traditionalists ain’t happy. The rest of us who like smart sci-fi, however, are just happy to see a new release in the comfort of our own homes.
That might make sense for a studio which has doubts about the viability of a big project and decides to simply sell it to a streaming service such as Netflix, but it also does raise the possibility that the studios are cutting off their long-term nose to spite their short-term face.
If people get used to watching new releases on their TV set at home, will they stop going to the cinema?
In the meantime, we can just be happy that Annihilation looks like an absolute belter.