'[The Audience] Wanted an Original Movie': Scarlett Johansson's New Film Wasn't Meant for Theaters

In a world where streaming services compete with each other for the best content, films that premiere in theaters have to be extra special to make moviegoers pay for a ticket. As it turns out, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum's upcoming film does have that quality.

Johansson and Tatum team up for the upcoming Fly Me to the Moon, a historical fiction based on Apollo 11's launch. Tatum plays a former military pilot in charge of the launch, with Johansson playing a marketing executive hired by the White House to make the space program more appealing to politicians and the American public. The film will officially be released in theaters, but director Greg Berlanti revealed to Variety that the film was supposed to go straight to streaming.

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“It was originally direct to streaming,” Berlanti explained at a private screening for the film in West Hollywood. “But then we handed in the cut and we started testing it. We tested it in Denver and it went very well. We tested it in California and we tested it in Texas. Every time, it was very much a resounding response from the focus group and testing that this was a theatrical movie.”

The testing audience also kept bringing up was wanting to see an original movie

“The other thing that the testing audience also kept bringing up was wanting to see an original movie. They were so grateful for an original,” Berlanti says. “Even though it’s obviously historical fiction, it’s an original story wrapped around that. They didn’t know what was going to happen in a way in the movie and that was so fresh for them.”

Fly Me to the Moon was originally marketed as an Apple Original Film and was intended for its streaming platform, Apple TV+. However, following its good reception, the film will be distributed by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures.

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Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum Had 'Instant' Chemistry

Johansson was supposed to reunite with her Marvel co-star Chris Evans for a remake of Little Shop of Horrors, with the Arrowverse director Greg Berlanti also attached to the project. After the plans for the remake were canceled, they teamed up for Fly Me to the Moon, adding Channing Tatum to the mix.

“They both can have chemistry with a wall, but you don’t know until you have them together,” Berlanti says. “However, I knew from the second the readthrough was happening it was instant and I knew I just needed to and wanted to keep watching them. They have that thing.”

Johansson and Tatum will be joined by Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano, Jim Hash, and Anna Garcia. Fly Me to the Moon opens in theaters on July 12.

Source: Variety