https://www.cnet.com/news/is-annihilation-movie-based-on-jeff-vandermeer-new-weird-book-too-weird/

The book, published in 2014, asks important questions about ecology, authority, identity and the human condition, while maintaining a constant sense of inscrutable and sinister unease as mysteries pile on top of mysteries.

The film, which stars Natalie Portman, opens Friday in the US. But when I found out "Annihilation" won't get a theatrical release beyond the US, Canada and China, I was more than dismayed. What's stopping the movie from reaching big screens elsewhere? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount was concerned the story may be "too intellectual" for general audiences following the movie's poor screen-test results.