TALLULAH Trailer
2016’s Sundance Film Festival was a splashy show of muscle from streaming leaders Amazon and Netflix, with early headlines being grabbed by the latter for its pre-festival acquisition of Tallulah. The film reunites Juno stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney for another movie that circles around a baby, but this time Page’s character isn’t as up front about the child’s origins.
Tallulah is the kind of film that likely would’ve found a home with a major studio’s independent label, like Juno’s deal with Fox Searchlight, before the streaming companies pushed into feature distribution. With Netflix and Amazon playing up their multitude of potential viewers to filmmakers, it’s becoming harder and harder for smaller distributors to offer similar exposure.
Awards season experience is perhaps the last talking point left for traditional distributors, but even those walls are quickly falling with last year’s Beasts of No Nation from Netflix and the upcoming Manchester by the Sea from Amazon. While Beasts of No Nation failed to land any Oscar nominations last year, I find it highly unlikely that Netflix is backing out of the fight.
Tallulah offers a solid platform for a Best Actress run for Page, with last year’s Freeheld operating as a comeback of sorts that proved her turn in Juno was no fluke. Netflix’s plans to give Tallulah a theatrical run later this year (which is necessary to qualify for the Oscars) seems like a nod to their ambitions.
Tallulah landing with Netflix also brings its writer and director, Sian Heder, back under their wing. Heder’s biggest credit to date has been writing for Orange is the New Black, the unqualified hit that helped secure Netflix’s place in the television market. In writing for that series, Heder has proven that she can handle empathetic stories about troubled women, which appears to be precisely what Tallulah is trying to pull off.
All the pieces seem to have fallen in place for Tallulah to be a success. Now we just have to wait for that new arrival notification to pop up.
Tallulah is directed by Sian Heder and stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney. It will be released on Netflix on July 29th, 2016.
Do you think films like Tallulah can find success outside of theatrical distribution? Let us know in the comments!
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