announced that the film, originally titled Descendants, would be released in February 2019, with Nicholas McCarthy directing, Jeff Buhler writing, and Taylor Schilling starring in the lead role. Daniel Bekerman, Lisa Zambri, Nick Spicer and Jeff Buhler will serve as executive producers. During the film's production, Orion Pictures' president John Hegeman said about the project in a statement: In October 2018, McCarthy revealed that a scene had to be re-edited after it was found that it made a test audience scream so much that they missed the following dialogue. The film includes an interview with another family who believed their child had memories of a previous life. That was actual footage of a real interview about James Leininger, whose parents believed his nightmares about plane crashes were caused by having had a previous life as a World War II pilot. Casting By June 2018, Jackson Robert Scott, Peter Mooney, Colm Feore and Brittany Allen were cast in the film. Filming Principal photography on the film began in March 2018 and wrapped in the same month in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Music The dark orchestral score was composed by Joseph Bishara and released on vinyl in 2019 by Waxwork Records. Release The film was released in the United States on February 8, 2019, by Orion Pictures. Reception Box office The Prodigy has grossed $14.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.2 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $21.1 million, against a production budget of $6 million. In the United States and Canada, The Prodigy was released on February 8, 2019, alongside The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Cold Pursuit and What Men Want, and was projected to gross $8–11 million from 2,530 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $2 million on its first day, including $350,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $6 million, finishing sixth at the box office, although Deadline Hollywood noted given the film's $6 million production budget the studio was satisfied with the results and the film would likely net a profit. Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "The Prodigy doesn't take the bad seed genre to any truly new places, but for horror fans in search of an evil child to fear,