20th Century Studios' The Princess Will Release Straight To Hulu In The US
I could easily rant about Disney using 20th Century Studios as a source of "content" for Hulu and Disney+ and little more, but why do that when /Film's Ryan Scott has already written an excellent piece on that very topic? No, I'm here to tell you about "The Princess," the latest project from the studio formerly known as Fox to skip theaters in favor of releasing straight to streaming. It's an intriguing, original genre film at that, with Joey King (she of "The Kissing Booth" trilogy fame) starring as a "skilled and formidable young royal."
"The Princess" comes from director Le-Van Kiet, a Vietnamese-born filmmaker whose 2019 martial arts thriller "Furie" was described by our own Hoai-Tran Bui as being "a breathless revenge movie that feels big and grand-scale despite being made on a shoestring budget." That certainly bodes well for his new film, which is based on a script by Ben Lustig ("The Thirst") and Jake Thornton, the latter of whom is writing the live-action "Final Fantasy" TV series announced in 2019.
20th Century Studios is keeping things interesting
The official synopsis for "The Princess" reads:
When a beautiful, strong-willed princess refuses to wed the cruel sociopath to whom she is betrothed, she is kidnapped and locked in a remote tower of her father's castle. With her scorned, vindictive suitor intent on taking her father's throne, the princess must protect her family and save the kingdom
Among those joining King in the "Princess" cast are Dominic Cooper ("Preacher"), Olga Kurylenko ("Black Widow"), and "The Old Guard" actor Veronica Ngo (who also played the lead in "Furie"). Behind the camera, "Fast & Furious" veteran Neal H. Moritz is producing the film with Toby Jaffe ("Bloodshot") and "John Wick" writer Derek Kolstad, which gives you a pretty good sense of the kind of movie Kiet is making. That's not a complaint, either; I'm all for more high-octane fantasy-adventures, especially ones with female leads that aren't based on an established IP. So long as the actual film has a little more flavor than its title, I'm all onboard for this one.
Indeed, part of what's so frustrating about 20th Century Studios' movies being used as little more fuel for Disney's content-hungry streaming services is that a lot of them seem to have some real creativity behind them. Besides "The Princess," there's also the upcoming "Prey" — a "Predator" prequel film that centers on a young Comanche warrior (Amber Midthunder) battling a Predator in the 1700s — and "Rosaline," a comedic take on "Romeo and Juliet" told from the POV of Juliet's cousin (Kaitlyn Dever). Between all that and the recent release of Adrian Lyne's amusingly trashy erotic thriller "Deep Water" on Hulu, 20th Century Studios is offering the type of genre fare that the major Hollywood studios have been ignoring of late, which is all the more reason for everyone to sit up and take notice.
"The Princess" premieres July 1, 2022, exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ under the Star banner in other territories.