Experimental Sci-Fi Monster Movie Colossal, Starring Anne Hathaway, Heads to Paramount+ October 1

When a giant monster appears, you don't expect much in the way of subtlety. Let's look at it simply. A huge monster turns up, stomps across a city and flattens it, and two hours go by with humanity screaming about how nothing is working, and then the monster goes back to sleep. Nacho Vigalondo decided to take that formula somewhere considerably stranger, turning his kaiju movie into a dark comedy about alcoholism, toxic relationships, and what happens when someone's personal problems suddenly become Seoul's problems.

That movie is Colossal, and the acclaimed 2017 genre mash-up is officially heading to Paramount+. The streamer has confirmed that the movie will join its U.S. library on October 1, giving one of the strangest monster movies of the last decade a new streaming home. Gloria is an out-of-work party girl who finds herself in relationship trouble with her sensible boyfriend, Tim, and is forced to move back to her tiny hometown to get her life back on track. She reconnects with childhood friend Oscar, a good-natured bar owner with a coterie of drinking buddies, and resumes her drinking lifestyle. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a larger-than-life creature begins attacking Seoul, South Korea, on a nightly basis, captivating spectators around the world. One night, Gloria is horrified to discover that her every move at a local playground is being mimicked on a catastrophic scale by the rampaging beast.

When Gloria's friends get wind of the bizarre phenomenon, a second, more destructive creature emerges, prompting an epic showdown between the two monsters. The cast is led by Anne Hathaway (Interstellar) as Gloria, alongside Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) as Oscar, Dan Stevens (Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire) as Tim, Austin Stowell (NCIS: Origins) as Joel, Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen) as Garth, Agam Darshi (Sanctuary) as Ash, Rukiya Bernard (Yellowjackets) as Maggie, and Christine Lee (Black Summer) as the waitress.

How Good Is 'Colossal'?

Critics definitely seemed to buy into the absolutely bizarre premise, and it holds an impressive 82% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 260 reviews, although audiences were noticeably less enthusiastic, giving it a 58% Popcornmeter score. The critics particularly enjoyed Hathaway's leading performance, and how willing the movie was to use its ridiculous premise to try and make it a bit more personal. But commercially, it was a disaster really, and it earned just $3 million domestically during its limited theatrical release, meaning anyone expecting it to compete with Godzilla at the box office was going to be disappointed.

Colossal begins streaming on Paramount+ in the United States on October 1. Stay tuned at Collider for more streaming updates.