Ben Affleck's New Movie Going Straight to Streaming After Being Pulled From Theatrical Slate

One of Ben Affleck's next movies will only be released on streaming platforms after Disney pulled the project from its release schedule earlier this month. Deep Water, an erotic thriller co-starring No Time to Die star Ana de Armas, was scheduled to open in theaters on Jan. 14. It was directed by Fatal Attraction filmmaker Adrian Lynne and is based on a Patricia Highsmith novel.

Disney erased Deep Water from the release schedule last week. On Monday, sources told Deadline the movie will now go straight to streaming. Disney's Hulu will have the film in the U.S., while Amazon will stream the move overseas. No new release date has been set.

Deep Water started development at the now-shuttered Fox 2000 Pictures, which later sold the project to New Regency. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, the studio agreed to still handle distribution under the new 20th Century Studios label. While it was being filmed last year, Affleck and de Armas started an off-screen relationship, but they split in January 2021.

In Deep Water, Affleck and de Armas star as a married couple who play mind games with each other until people they know start mysteriously dying. They stay in a loveless marriage while each of them takes new lovers, but the situation only becomes more of a mess. Highsmith's novel was published in 1957 and is a satire on life in suburbia. Zach Helm and Sam Levinson wrote the script. Tacy Letts, Rachel Blanchard and Lil Rel Howery also star.

Disney's decision to skip a theatrical release for Deep Water comes as adult-targeted movies continue to struggle at the box office during the pandemic. The studio just released Steven Spielberg's critically acclaimed West Side Story remake to just $10.5 million in its opening weekend. Affleck also just starred in Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, another Fox project that Disney inherited, and it bombed, earning only $10.8 million during its entire domestic run.

Affleck's next movie is George Clooney's The Tender Bar, which Amazon will release to theaters on Dec. 22 before it hits Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 7. As for de Armas, she just had a supporting role in the James Bond movie No Time to Die. She also stars as Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik's long-awaited adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' Blonde. That movie is expected to finally be released next year. De Armas was also cast in a John Wick spinoff in October.