Netflix will begin streaming a feature film about an African warlord and his boy soldiers from the director of HBO’s True Detective on the same day as its release in US cinemas.

Beasts of No Nation will debut later this year in the ever-growing territories where the US streamer is available, as well as select movie theatres in the US.

Directed and written by Cary Fukunaga, it is based on the eponymous novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, published in 2005, and stars Idris Elba as a powerful warlord who recruits a child soldier to fight in the civil war of an African country.

Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos said last year ^[1] that the firm wanted to speed up the “antiquated” film distribution model, and its latest acquisition looks to herald the beginning of that strategy.

The company’s plans to release the feature film online on the same day as in cinemas have been met with outrage from some distributors, such as AMC and Regal, which are refusing to screen it, according to Variety.

Netflix announced it was releasing its first original movie, a sequel to Oscar-winning martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, last year. It is also producing four feature films with Hollywood star Adam Sandler.

Beasts of No Nation is produced by Red Crown Productions (RCP) and co-financed with Participant Media. “The Netflix team is bold and has the same pioneering spirit about distribution that I like to think we had about making the film in the jungles of Ghana,” said Daniela Taplin Lundberg, co-founder of RCP.

Fukunaga made his feature film writing and directing debut with the acclaimed Sin Nombre, for which he won the directing award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, while he also directed the 2011 film Jane Eyre.

Most recently, he served as director and executive produced for True Detective, which has been commissioned for a second season by HBO.