Oh it was eligible. But most big theatre chains said they absolutely refused to play a movie that was available on Netflix, which made it a super limited theatre release, and I'm presuming the attitude that Netflix is encroaching on "real" movies' territory is prevalent in Hollywood as well.
The movie did better with awards bodies that vote for a bunch of TV categories too, and the TV industry has shown itself to be more open to streaming.
More directly to the point of the title:
Award-winning writer Tony Kushner has signed on to rework the Fences play. Denzel will direct and star in it along with Viola.
Denzel and Viola both won Tony Awards when they did it on Broadway, so it should be pretty Oscar baity, and I'm sure the voters would love to give Viola an Oscar for various reasons. Rumor is that Denzel wants Michael B. Jordan to play their son too. Tonys are pretty diverse; half of the last 6 Play Actress winners are black.
http://deadline.com/2016/01/tony-kus...nt-1201692129/