Annihilation

Annihilation was theatrically released on February 23, 2018. It grossed a total of $43 million worldwide against a production budget of $40-55 million. Owing to its commercial failure, the film has been dubbed as one of the biggest box office flops of 2018. Despite this, the film has been acclaimed for its visuals, performance, direction, and plot. Empire magazine’s Jonathan Pile also praised the film for incorporating themes that touch on human emotions and tendencies. Review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic gave the film an average score, suggesting positive reactions from Annihilation’s audience. Market research firm CinemaScore consolidated a grade of C from the audiences it polled, while U.S.-based surveyor PostTrak revealed audiences gave Annihilation a total score of 71%. Netflix digitally released the film in several countries on March 12, 2018. The film had been in development since March 2013, when Paramount Pictures and Scott Rudin Productions optioned the first novel in the Southern Reach Trilogy. Filming began in April 2016. Prior to its release, Annihilation’s filmmakers already caught the ire of critics for inaccurately casting Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh to portray characters who are Asian and of half Native American descent, respectively. In his defense, Garland said the females’ ethnicity is not mentioned in the first book.