Anna Daniels
Never Rarely Sometimes Always premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to near-universal acclaim, and was riding the wave of critical praise right to theaters, where it was released two weeks ago in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Eliza Hittman‘s quiet abortion drama is an indie film that could have easily been lost to the noise of coronavirus news and industry-wide shutdowns, but Focus Features is making sure that Never Rarely Sometimes Always is getting the audience it deserves with an early video-on-demand release. Focus Features has set an early Never Rarely Sometimes Always digital release for next week, merely three weeks after it hit theaters.
NBCUniversal announced that the Focus Features’ latest film, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, will be joining the horde of theatrical releases heading to digital platforms early. Never Rarely Sometimes Always will be available for purchase on participating on-demand services for $19.99 starting Friday, April 3. The film’s digital release comes just three weeks after it opened theatrically on March 13. Never Rarely Sometimes Always will be available on demand for a 48 hour viewing period.
Universal Studios made the game-changing announcing earlier this month that it would drop its theatrical films The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Focus Features’ Emma. on digital platforms early, mere days after a few of the films had opened in theaters, in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Other studios followed suit, making their theatrical films available on VOD or on streaming platforms early.
As a slow-moving independent film , Never Rarely Sometimes Always had little chance of being seen by large numbers outside of critics’ circles who heard of the praise coming out of the film festival circuit, where Hittman’s follow-up to her acclaimed Beach Rats won the Sundance Special Jury Award for Neo-Realism and the Berlin Film Festival’s prestigious Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. But now that it’s hitting digital early, and everyone in quarantine is itching for a new movie to watch, perhaps Never Rarely Sometimes Always will get the wide audience it never dreamed of.
Here is the synopsis for Never Rarely Sometimes Always:
Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, the film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion.
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