Paramount Pictures’ recent decision to forgo a worldwide theatrical release for Alex Garland’s innovative science fiction movie Annihilation and to sell it directly to Netflix, is still a matter of debate. It raises a wealth of issues from the current culture of financial risk aversion that dominates Western society, right the way through to gender politics. It certainly highlights the fact that the bottom line is now the primary motivator of any mainstream studio film production. All other considerations be they artistic, socio-political or just telling a good story are now subordinate to whether or will not a movie will make a predefined return on investment. It can therefore be cogently argued that many classic films from the sixties and seventies such as Bullitt, Deliverance and Dog Day Afternoon or would not be approved for production if they were pitched to studios in the current climate.