Joel Edgerton, director of the gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, told Indiewire he wishes he had chosen a streaming deal with Netflix over the movie's standard theatrical release, which generated $11.8 million at the box office, barely enough to cover the film's $11 million budget. Plus … no conversation.
Said Edgerton to Indiewire: “We had a really interesting debate about which way to go. Focus had this incredible track record with putting out these LGBTQ films like ‘Brokeback' and ‘Milk,' so I felt we were in the right hands. We wanted to create a face-to-face scenario where we'd have face time with audiences and have Q&As and generate discussions. To me, it felt like that was the right way to go.”
But Edgerton said that upon reflection he would have preferred the conversation that is generated when the film is released simultaneously everywhere in the world, rather than a city-by-city theatrical rollout: “The moment you put something on a streaming platform, everybody in every household in all these countries can see it at the exact same time. You don't get that chatter — and this was sad for me — of, ‘When is this film coming to my country?' or, ‘I have to drive five hours to see it,' or, ‘I just can't afford the time and money.'”
