Dylan O’Brien’s sci-fi dystopian movie is finally coming to streaming after a tumultuous theatrical run.
Anniversary is coming out on Hulu soon, an O’Brien-led movie that came out in theaters on October 29, 2025. The movie follows a gathering of the Taylor family, which becomes tense after their son’s girlfriend, Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), is revealed to be part of The Change, a political movement advocating for a one-party system.
Now, Hulu has confirmed the movie is coming to the platform on Friday, March 13, following a rather abysmal box office run. Despite its theatrical release, Anniversary only earned a little over $672,000 against a budget of $7 million. This makes it O’Brien’s worst-performing film in theaters, and a massive failure for Lionsgate, who distributed the movie.
This is despite reviews for Anniversary being mostly positive. As of writing, the film holds a 67% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes from 67 reviews, while it has a 78% from audiences on the site based on over 50 verified ratings. Critics call the film suspenseful as The Change evolves, with its yearly evolution granting the film its title.
Due to its incredibly poor performance at the box office, Lionsgate was accused of burying Anniversary, thus purposefully causing it to fail in theaters. The film only opened in select theaters across the United States and received little in the way of marketing, despite having stars like O’Brien, Kyle Chandler, Diane Lane, and Mckenna Grace attached.
Accusations from people like producer Nick Wechsler imply the film’s political storyline is what caused Lionsgate to avoid wide distribution while keeping marketing to a minimum. The movie features an influential group trying to unify the country under a single political ideology, even if it means people need to die for it to happen.
Interestingly, the political angle has been a broad topic for critics, who claim the movie doesn’t do enough to make The Change distinctive in terms of the ideology it’s supposed to reflect. Even so, the controversy surrounding the movie and its box office performance makes its approaching release on Hulu all the more interesting.
With Anniversary finally coming to streaming, a wider audience can judge whether the movie deserved to have a wider release. Given its generally positive reception, the movie’s political storytelling makes it a worthwhile watch, especially given the level of controversy it managed to garner because of its box office underperformance.
- Release Date
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October 29, 2025
- Director
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Jan Komasa
- Writers
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Lori Rosene-Gambino, Jan Komasa