The critically acclaimed drama, which won awards at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, hit theaters in N.Y. and L.A. on March 13 before the coronavirus pandemic forced cinemas nationwide to close.
Focus Features' Never Rarely Sometimes Always has become the latest big-screen title to land an early on-demand release as the coronavirus pandemic has closed movie theaters nationwide.
The critically acclaimed drama, which won awards at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, hit theaters in N.Y. and L.A. on March 13 and was originally set for a wide release on April 3. Instead, starting April 3, the film will be available to rent via on-demand services for $19.99 for a 48-hour viewing period.
The move comes after other films that had brief theatrical runs before the widespread theater closures — Universal's The Hunt and The Invisible Man, Focus' Emma, Warner Bros' The Way Back, Sony's Bloodshot and Disney's Onward — have become available on demand early.
Since its world premiere at Sundance, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, written and directed by Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats), has earned rave reviews, currently boasting a 99 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Hittman also took home the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Neorealism at Sundance and the film won the Silver Bear prize at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie stars newcomer Sidney Flanigan, who plays a 17-year-old girl faced with an unintended pregnancy who travels with her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) from Pennsylvania to New York in search of medical assistance.
