Disney announced today—amidst a whole host of delays, moving release dates for its Marvel movies, etc.—that it’s skipping all that rigamarole for its upcoming film adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books, and just dropping the movie directly onto Disney+. Besides instantly becoming the most interesting thing about the Artemis Fowl movie, the news marks the first time the studio has opted out of the theatrical release window entirely, moving a film originally slated for theaters to its streaming service offerings instead.
Artemis Fowl stars Ferdia Shaw as a young would-be supervillain, focused on finding his father, a long-missing Colin Farrell. Is the elder Fowl’s disappearance related to the mysterious world…of the fairies? Almost certainly—there’s a whole bunch of fairy stuff in Colfer’s books, after all. Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Tamara Smart, Nonso Anozie, Josh McGuire, Nikesh Patel and Adrian Scarborough all co-star, along with Judi Dench, adding a little “Old Deuteronomy from Cats” heat to an ensemble directed by Kenneth Branagh, also pretty clearly deep into the “Sure, why not?” portion of his career.
It’s not clear exactly when Artemis Fowl will debut on Disney+; the film’s original theatrical date was scheduled for May 29.