Just in time for Halloween, Warner Bros. revealed that the new movie adaptation of “The Witches” will skip theaters and instead debut on HBO Max, according to Variety.
“The Witches,” based on the beloved children’s novel by Roald Dahl, stars Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch and Octavia Spencer as the grandmother of a young boy who is trying to stop the witches’ plot to turn children into mice, according to People magazine.
The film was originally supposed to come to theaters on Oct. 9, but like other films in recent months, it had to change plans because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film also stars Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock and Kristin Chenoweth, according to Variety.
It is not the first time that “The Witches” has come to the screen. There was a 1990 adaptation starring Angelica Huston, which was reportedly “disavowed” by Dahl because the film’s ending was different from the book, according to Entertainment Weekly. However, the new adaptation from Zemeckis is expected to follow the book more faithfully.
“The Witches” is not the only movie to go directly to a streaming service during the coronavirus pandemic. Disney’s “Mulan” debuted on Disney Plus in September, months after it was originally supposed to premiere in theaters in March, the Deseret News reported.
Other films, like Disney’s “Artemis Fowl” and Universal’s “Trolls World Tour,” have also skipped planned theatrical releases in favor of streaming services. Universal claimed that “Trolls” had the studio’s biggest digital release ever when it debuted in April, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The Witches” will be available on HBO Max on Oct. 22, according to Variety.