After gracing the screens at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Ron Howard's Eden seeks a theatrical/streaming release.
Howard, best known for directing films like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, has been on the festival circuit this year, touting his latest big-screen venture alongside stars Jude Law (Captain Marvel), Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), Ana De Armas (Knives Out), and Vanessa Kirby (Fantastic Four).
This new movie Eden centers on Law and Kirby's on-screen husband and wife, two German progressives who flee their country in the early 1900s. Alongside some of their neighbors, they settle on an island in the Galapagos, only for the realities of survival to set in.
Will Eden Release in Theaters or on Streaming?
As of writing, release information for Eden remains a massive question mark amongst fans.
The film made its North American debut on Saturday, September 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and its US rights have yet to be sold.
The international rights for the movie were purchased by Amazon Prime Video out of Cannes in May (via Screen Daily).
However, this deal was only for the UK & Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Scandinavia, Spain, Latin America, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, India, Turkey, West Indies, and Asia pay-TV territories.
Seeing as someone was willing to pick up the international rights to the film months ago, it is highly likely a suitor will step forward out of the movie's debut at TIFF and buy the right to release it stateside.
But whether it is released in theaters properly or will land on one of the many North American streaming platforms remains to be seen.
The theatrical environment surrounding Eden is a relatively tough one. Not just every movie hits the big screen anymore, as studios realize only the biggest event films have proven successful in theaters since the business started to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has meant (per Film Take) festivals like TIFF have seen fewer films heading to theaters after gracing their screens, instead being bought up to be distributed on streaming rather than the local multiplex.
Given this change in theatrical strategy, it would not be all that surprising if Eden were to be acquired by one of the major streamings (i.e. Netflix, Disney, or Amazon) and primed for a release on their respective streaming hub.
Since its debut at TIFF, Eden has garnered fairly positive word of mouth on the festival scene. This could mean the movie may get picked up fairly quickly and released later this year or sometime early next year (especially as these distributors start to line up their awards strategies for the end of the year).
It could also be much longer before Eden gets a wide release though. As an example, this year's Hell of a Summer debuted at TIFF 2023 but was not picked up for distribution until August 2024 and is now slated to be released sometime in 2025.
In regards to its international partnership with Prime Video, it is likely the film could see a limited theatrical release before going to streaming shortly after - as has been the case with so many other movies acquired by the streaming giant.
Eden currently has no US release date.
