'Chicago 7' Went To Netflix After Warnings About COVID Conspiracy Theorists Being "The First People Back" To Cinemas

The history behind the upcoming film, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” doesn’t just include the actual historic events that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming Netflix film. That drama is crazy enough, of course, but the behind-the-scenes hurdles that Sorkin had to jump to bring the film to fruition more than a decade after he originally began work on it is already legendary. And as is apparent from a recent profile at THR, Sorkin’s drama with the release of the film didn’t end after production, but it extended to the release strategy, as the film’s studio was unsure about how to distribute it during a pandemic.

According to the film’s writer-director, Paramount loved the film, but the studio just didn’t think a theatrical release in 2020, given the pandemic and the current status of cinemas, was the right option. But it wasn’t because Paramount was concerned about the money “The Trial of the Chicago 7” would or wouldn’t make. Instead, the concern was that the people that are going back to cinemas right now aren’t necessarily the target demographic for a story of Liberal activists taking on the system.

Sorkin recalled a conversation he had with the studio, where he was told that it would probably be best to look at a streaming partner to release the film.

“At the end of the call, [Paramount executive Jim Gianopulos] said, ‘Listen, we don’t know what the theater business is going to look like in the fall,’” Sorkin explained. “We have troubling data telling us that the first people back in movie theaters are going to be the people who think that the coronavirus is a hoax.”

He added, “I said, ‘I don’t think the Idaho militia are going to be the first people coming to this movie.'”

Eventually, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” would land at Netflix. Now, the drama is being released in select cinemas tomorrow and worldwide on the streaming service on October 16. Our review of the film will go live later tonight if you’re curious if Sorkin’s passion project for the past 15 years is worth the wait.