Duncan Jones' sci-fi movie 'Mute' debuts on Netflix February 23rd


Duncan Jones' next movie won't be coming to theaters -- it's going straight to streaming. The Moon and Warcraft director has revealed that his long-in-the-making sci-fi film noire, Mute, will premiere on Netflix February 23rd. The movie is set in a future Berlin where a mute bartender (played by Alexander Skarsgård) has to trust a pair of American surgeons (led by Paul Rudd) as he tracks down a disappeared woman. Justin Theroux also stars. There's no trailer yet, but in many ways the effort taken to release the movie is the hook -- Netflix is giving Jones a chance that might not have come up through conventional formats.

As Jones noted, Mute is his "Don Quixote." It was supposed to be his first movie (he had a first draft in 2003), but it got pushed back for a number of reasons. Sam Rockwell was supposed to play a role, but Jones' insistence on different casting led him to write Moon to give Rockwell a lead (Mute is a sort of spiritual follow-up to Moon). And after that, it "kept being pushed back to the back burner" -- Source Code, the cancers of his dad (David Bowie) and wife, and other factors led him to sideline the movie and try for a Mute graphic novel that itself didn't pan out.

Netflix was, effectively, Jones' savior. He described it as an avenue for making movies that creators are "passionate about," rather than"homogenous blobs" intended to cater to absolutely everybody. The internet giant thrives on niche productions, and was willing to take a chance. It certainly helps that Jones is an accomplished filmmaker who can bring well-known actors to his work, but it's clear that Mute's odds of release wouldn't as been as high if Jones had pushed for conventional distribution.

Netflix clearly has reasons to be optimistic about Mute's success. The streaming giant has been making a big push into exclusive movies with top-notch talent, and that strategy has already paid off with the success of Bright. It doesn't always need blockbuster viewership -- it just needs enough interest to recoup its investment and draw in would-be subscribers. Should Mute be even modestly popular, it could also attract other directors who feel that theatrical releases have too many creative and financial hurdles.

Source: Duncan Jones (Twitter)

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2mVe6Fk"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more