One of the last movies to become a success at the box office before theaters began shutting down over COVID-19 was The Invisible Man. It was yet another hit for Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions. But for every Invisible Man, there’s The Hunt. Another Blumhouse film that – after being delayed last year due to its subject matter – was then marketed for its delay as a selling point. Unfortunately, it came out in early March, which was right before the shutdown, and was eventually put on streaming platforms, where it didn’t perform terribly well.
This is the current state of movie distribution. Particularly for low-budget films like the ones made at Blumhouse. Since they don’t have the same marketing budget of a typical blockbuster, or the ability to release their stuff in theaters right now, their number one goal is to get as many eyes on the project as possible. Which is why for their next release, the company is skipping cinemas altogether.
Run Sweetheart Run, from director Shana Feste (Country Strong), debuted at Sundance this year to positive reviews and was supposed to release on May 8th. Then COVID-19 happened and so, it’s now heading straight to streaming.
Blumhouse is partnering with Amazon Studios to stream the film exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. The release date is still unknown, but this follows a recent trend of movies making their way to your home screen and bypassing the theatrical run. The Lovebirds, which came out on Netflix last week, was originally a Paramount production, while Greyhound, a WWII submarine movie with Tom Hanks which had a nice prime summer release date, was purchased by Apple TV+ who plan to distribute the film exclusively on their platform.
But Run Sweetheart Run is not that highbrow. It stars a young single mother looking to get back into the dating scene. While on her first date with a charming young man though, he becomes violent and she soon finds herself navigating the busy streets of Los Angeles while her psychotic date follows close behind.
It sounds a bit generic, but if there’s one genre movie lovers can’t get enough of in the comfort of their own home, it’s horror. And now, they’ll have another one to dig into with Run Sweetheart Run.
