The horror movie Eli has had a long road from script to screen. Filmmaker Ciarán Foy was first named as a director back in early 2017. It was slated to be released by Paramount Pictures next month, until a few weeks ago when the studio dropped the film from their schedule. Now, according to Collider, Netflix has stepped in and will release the film exclusively on its streaming platform sometime in 2019.
This isn’t the first type of exchange the two companies have had. Last year, Netflix surprise-released The Cloverfield Paradox after the SuperBowl, which was also handed off by Paramount.
Eli begins when a young boy undergoes treatment for a rare disease. A secluded clinic soon becomes a haunted prison with no way out. The film stars Charlie Shotwell (All the Money in the World) as the title character, alongside Lili Taylor (American Crime), Kelly Reilly (True Detective), and Sadie Sink (Stranger Things).
The script was first written by David Chirchirillo, which made 2015’s Black List of quality scripts that didn’t have development deals. Later, Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing were brought aboard to rewrite Chirchirillo’s initial draft. All three will share a writing credit on the film.
Foy most recently directed the horror film Sinister 2 and also has a number of projects in the works with Blumhouse Productions, including The Shee, which he will write and direct. Foy’s debut feature, the multi-award winning Citadel, premiered SXSW in 2012 and won the festival’s Midnighters Audience Award.
