As studios look for a way to recoup on their investments with theaters locked down for the foreseeable future (some movies have a July release date, but that ridiculously optimistic and I don’t think it will hold), they’re deciding to sell off some of their movies to streamers. We’ve already seen it with Netflix taking over the Kumail Nanjiani/Issa Rae rom-com The Lovebirds, and now Netflix has picked up another film previously slated for theatrical release.

Netflix has announced that they’ve picked up the rights for Enola Holmes from Legendary. The film was originally under a partnership with Warner Bros., which released Legendary movies like Detective Pikachu and Godzilla, but now the movie will be released on the streaming service worldwide excluding China.

The film follows Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown), the kid sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin), as she searches for their missing mother (Helena Bonham Carter). Fleabag helmer Harry Bradbeer directs based on the book series by Nancy Springer. Brown is also a producer on the project alongside her mother, Paige Brown, and Legendary’s Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, and Ali Mendes.

While sometimes a movie getting dumped on Netflix is a sign of poor quality (hi, The Cloverfield Paradox!), times are different right now and studios are looking for income. It wouldn’t surprise me if Enola Holmes is actually pretty good, but as we’ve seen with Artemis Fowl moving to Disney+, studios are delaying blockbusters tentpoles and moving more family-friendly fare to streaming where it will have a better chance of finding an audience while also providing needed content to streamers during the pandemic shutdown.

There is no release date yet for Enola Holmes, which wrapped production last September, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it arrives on Netflix in the months ahead.

via Collider