Steven Soderbergh has always been on the leading edge of marketing and distribution strategies for his movies, which is why it should come as no surprise he would eventually find a home at Netflix. The director has teamed with the streaming service to release his upcoming sports drama, High Flying Bird.
Netflix has acquired global rights to the film, which stars Andre Holland, Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto, Kyle Machlachlan, Bill Duke, Sonja Sohn, and Melvin Gregg with a script by Moonlight‘s Tarell Alvin McCraney. The film takes place during an NBA lockout and follows a sports agent who pitches a rookie basketball client an intriguing and controversial proposition.
Soderbergh says about the Netflix deal,“We had several strong options for distributing High Flying Bird, but to borrow the patois of the movie itself, this deal felt like a slam dunk and the perfect way for me to begin my relationship with Netflix as a director.”
The plan is for High Flying Bird to be released in 2019, and based on what Soderbergh has said I expect this will be the first of many collaborations with Netflix.
