Netflix Planning to Make 90 Movies a Year With Budgets up to $200 Million

Netflix has been treating fans to an array of original content over the years, and it sounds like the movie side of things isn’t slowing down.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Netflix movie chief Scott Stuber discussed the company’s strategy for making and releasing movies in 2018 and beyond. As the interview reveals, Netflix’s original film operation is set to supply 55 original films a year, with a total of 90 when adding in documentaries and animated movies. The report also hints that some of those film’s budgets are as high as $200 million, but it does not say which film takes on that price tag.

To contrast, the article points out that Universal, which is seen as one of the most prolific major studios, releases around 30 movies each year. Warner Bros. released 23 movies in this calendar year alone, with Walt Disney Studios only releasing nine.

For some, the idea that Netflix is releasing so many original movies per year is probably a little daunting, especially when combined with the original television shows (and content from other studios) that the service releases each year. An October report outlined that Netflix plans to more than double its number of original content, something that even became a source of parody on Saturday Night Live.

Even with Netflix essentially releasing two original movies per year, a handful of recent entries have risen above the pack in one way or another. The Kurt Russell-led The Christmas Chronicles was reportedly viewed 20 million times in its first week on Netflix,

“Even in [Russell’s] successful career, he’s never had that many people see one of his movies in the first week ever,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos explained when he revealed those numbers. “That’s a testimony to what we can bring to the market for storytellers today that we couldn’t have ten years ago.”

“If every one of those [20 million streams] was a movie ticket purchase, that’s a $200 million opening week,” Sarandos noted. “Even movies that go on to $1 billion don’t typically do that in the first week.”

What do you think of Netflix making more and more original movies? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.