Netflix to release first original feature films in October — including one by True Detective’s Cary Fukanaga starring Idris Elba

Adam Sandler’s four Netflix films will be joined by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel and Pee-Wee Herman film

Idris Elba in 'Beasts of No Nation'

Netflix will begin its programme of original feature films with Cary Fukagana’s ‘Beasts of No Nation’, starring Idris Elba.

The streaming TV and film company has long made its own TV shows, including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. And while it has long been talking about getting into films, it has revealed the release schedule for the films for the first time.

Beasts of No Nation will be the first film to be released on the service, on October 16. It will be followed by the first of four films in Adam Sandler’s deal with the company in December, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend in the first quarter of 2016, and Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday in March next year.

All of the films apart from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be released in every territory where Netflix is available at the same time.

True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga will direct Beasts of No Nation, which will star Idris Elba and is based on a novel by Uzodinma Iweala about a child soldier who is taken to fight in a civil war. That film will still be released to cinemas — likely a move partly intended to allow it to qualify for awards season.

Adam Sandler’s The Ridiculous Six — a fairly transparent spoof of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight — will be released on December 11. That will allow it to get out just before the object of its ridicule.