Netflix is now aiming to get into the Oscar game. The streaming service just snagged the rights to Beasts of No Nation, a new film starring Idris Elba and directed by True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga.
Netflix paid $12 million for the film, reports Deadline. It was being sold by WME Global, which held small screenings of the movie for potential buyers.
Beasts of No Nation stars Elba as a warlord whose humanity slowly evaporates as he takes in a child soldier. It is based on a novel by Uzodinma Iweala.
Fukunaga, who directed the entire first season of True Detective, wrote the script. The film was financed by Red Crown Productions and Participant Media. Producers include Elba, Fukunaga, Daniel Crown, Daniella Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker, and Amy Kaufman.
The move comes just weeks after Netflix secured Jadotville, a drama starring Fifty Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan. Netflix is also working on the first of four Adam Sandler movies, Ridiculous Six, and signed another deal with Mark and Jay Duplass.
However, Beasts is the first film that Netflix has acquired that it clearly hopes will put it in the running for Oscar nominations. It already secured its first nomination with the documentary Virunga.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com