Netflix announced Monday its upcoming Frankstein film will receive a limited theatrical run in “select” theaters prior to hitting its streaming service. Guillermo del Toro’s next feature will hit theaters on Oct. 17, three weeks before it makes it Netflix debut on Nov. 7. At this time, Netflix hasn’t announced where or how many theaters Frankenstein will screen in.
Though its theatrical run will be short and limited, this is still a win for the director and fans of his work. Frankenstein isn’t the first Netflix film to receive a theatrical run before coming to the streaming platform; Luther: The Fallen Sun and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery also played in theaters, for example. (No word yet on if Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson’s third Benoit Blanc mystery, will also get a cinematic run later this year.)
Del Toro’s Frankenstein is yet another adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel from the early 1800s, although this seems to be a fairly straightforward version, unlike other recent, looser adaptations. The film stars Oscar Isaac as the scientist Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation. Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz also star as Victor’s fiancée Elizabeth and his wealthy patron Harlander, respectively.
Though Frankenstein’s creation is often called a monster, don’t expect the film to be straight horror. “It’s as personal as anything. I’m asking a question about being a father, being a son… I’m not doing a horror movie — ever,” del Toro recently said at the Cannes Film Festival. While the director’s career began in horror with scary movies like Cronos, Mimic, and The Devil’s Backbone, he’s since expanded into dark fairy tales and parables like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water (along with science fiction and superheroes). Del Toro’s Frankenstein may be a blending of all three. But whichever genre it winds up falling into, we’re just excited we’ll have the chance to see this movie on the big screen.
