Annihilation gets R rating & strange Netflix international release

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last month, we shared the new poster and trailer for director Alex Garland's ANNIHILATION, starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson. Today we have two new updates on the film. One good. One not so good.

The good news is that the film has been given an R rating by the MPAA for "violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality" which sounds good to me. But now on to the (potentially) bad news… 

The flick is set to hit theaters this month, and while I think it's safe to say that we're all excited for the film, outside of the U.S., Canada, and China, the movie isn’t getting a theatrical release. Yep, it turns out that Paramount sold international rights to the film to Netflix back in December.

This seems like a pretty cut and dry issue, but think about it this way: if the film turns out to be a hit, the studio will miss out on international grosses. Why risk that? I think the reason is clear. The studio has no faith in the film. Upon further research, it was found that Paramount sold the international rights after last summer's poor test-screening found the film to be “too intellectual” for general audiences.

What in the everloving shite is THAT all about?

Urgh. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Until then make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think of all this ANNIHILATION Netflix international business in the comments below or on social media.

Synopsis: 

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers―they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding ― but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that changes everything.

The film is directed by Alex Garland, based on a novel by Jeff VanDerMeer, and stars Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tuva Novotny, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson.

ANNIHILATION hits theaters February 23, 2018.