Blake Lively’s Controversial Tearjerker Drama ‘It Ends With Us’ Is Finally Hitting Theaters

After dominating The New York Times best-seller list, Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel It Ends With Us is receiving the movie adaptation treatment at Sony Pictures.

If you’ve been anywhere near BookTok in recent years, then let me start by expressing my sincerest condolences. Still, if you’ve accidentally wandered over to this side of the internet once or twice, odds are you don’t need me to explain Colleen Hoover’s romance novel It Ends With Us—and the sheer amount of controversy surrounding its portrayal of an abusive relationship. Nevertheless, it was the top-selling book of 2022 and for better or worse, served as many literary enthusiasts’ first foray into the world of Colleen Hoover, which I can only describe as unhinged, at best.

All this to say that it wasn’t exactly a surprise when Sony announced that it would be adapting It Ends With Us to the big screen in July 2023, with Blake Lively set to take on the role of our protagonist, flower shop owner Lily Bloom (yes, seriously). Justin Baldoni does double duty here, playing Lily’s neurosurgeon husband Ryle Kincaid as well as directing. And so far, critics seem divided about the film, which sits at an unremarkable 54% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. Audiences will likely be more lenient, but this isn’t exactly a promising start considering how well-loved the book is.

Where can you watch It Ends With Us? Theatrical release date and streaming window

It Ends With Us opens in theaters on Friday, August 9, and will probably remain on the big screen for quite some time—depending on its box office success. As for its streaming debut, the movie probably won’t arrive on Netflix (per the company’s agreement with Sony) until November or December 2024, given there’s typically a 120-day gap between the end of a film’s theatrical run and its arrival on streaming. There’s also been no word on a digital release date, but hopefully, we’ll learn more by the end of summer.

Coming off her lighthearted cameo as Lady Deadpool in Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, It Ends With Us certainly marks a shift in tone for Blake Lively, painting a chilling portrait of domestic violence, abuse, and trauma. Only time will tell if bookworms and Colleen Hoover loyalists think the film is a faithful adaptation of the source material, or if it will fall flat compared to what’s written in the pages of the novel.