A bit of an interesting development has just been reported as Netflix has landed theatrical and streaming rights to Cary Fukunaga‘s Beasts of No Nation, the filmmaker’s most recent film following his work on HBO’s “True Detective“. Netflix reportedly paid $12 million for the film with plans for both a theatrical and streaming release, though no specific plans were reported. However, the studio does intend to make an awards season push with the feature, which may prove interesting as such releases have seen some pushback from theater owners, wary of day-and-date releases, so I wouldn’t expect that to be the case here.
The film stars Idris Elba in a drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country. Elba plays the commander of a guerilla force and begins a process of dehumanizing the boy as he becomes a soldier.
Netflix is no stranger to movie deals having landed deals to distribute several films with Adam Sandler, the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sequel as well as Pee-Wee Herman‘s new movie, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, but those “crowd-pleasing features” aren’t necessarily films that need the advanced awards buzz as much as something like Beasts of No Nation will need in order for the studio to recoup its costs.
