Netflix Will Stop Green-Lighting Expensive Vanity Projects
Netflix will be focusing on making movies that appeal to a broader audience, aiming for blockbuster hits like The Adam Project and Red Notice, rather than spending money on expensive vanity projects aimed at earning awards for the streamer. The plan, aimed at minimizing costs by reducing the number of executives and producers drawing a salary from Netflix, will not necessarily reduce production budgets -- the example given in a The Hollywood Reporter article is that you could see a $20 million movie, rather than two $10 million movies -- but the goal will be to make fewer, better movies rather than inundating the market with original content.
The report comes on the heels of a number of cancellations and layoffs after the company's stock price took a huge hit. The streamer actually lost subscribers for the first time in ages, according to the last quarterly report. A lot of that came from Russia, where the company discontinued service amid the invasion of Ukraine, but it wasn't helped by a price hike in the U.S.
"Just a few years ago, we were struggling to out-monetize the market on little art films," Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos told analysts during an earnings call in April. "Today, we're releasing some of the most popular and most watched movies in the world. Just over the last few months, things like Don't Look Up and Red Notice and Adam Project, as examples of that."
This plan actually brings Netflix more in line with the rest of the film industry, where tiny budgets for indie movies and gigantic budgets for crowd-pleasing tentpoles are increasingly the norm, with mid-budgeted films largely disappearing. It's the opposite direction being taken by HBO Max, where the new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO reportedly doesn't want any original movies to cost more than $35 million.
The plan at Netflix remains to drop a new, original movie every week, although some of those will also be acquired from elsewhere. One example of that is the Emily Blunt thriller Pain Hustlers, which THR says Netflix recently acquired for around $50 million.