By the strictest definition of the word it isn’t quite a Netflix original, but it’s still surprising that the streamer is happy to let Alex Garland’s Annihilation disappear from the content library, with this coming Saturday, Sept. 30 set to be its last day of availability.
Paramount may have been the studio behind the project to begin with, but Netflix ended up swooping in to secure overseas distribution rights just 17 days after the mind-melting hybrid of science fiction, psychological thrills, and outright horror premiered in domestic theaters, a deal which reportedly cost the company at least half of the movie’s $40-55 million budget to complete.
Sure, it’s been half a decade since Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac, and Benedict Wong gathered together for an existential expedition to discover what happened to the Academy Award-winning star’s husband inside the mysterious and foreboding Area X, but it’s still rare – if somewhat of an increasing phenomenon – for Netflix to allow something it proudly displayed as an exclusive throughout great swathes of the planet slip through its fingers.
A true opinion splitter in every sense of the world, just as many people hated Annihilation as loved it, creating a polarizing and entirely unique contribution to a well-worn genre that once more underlined Garland’s credentials as one of the most distinctive and singular filmmakers in the industry. Catch it while you can, then, because its days are well and truly numbered. Unless you’re one of the ones who hated it, in which case good riddance.
Published: Sep 25, 2023 10:51 am