With Movie Theaters in Limbo, Netflix Plans Its Biggest Year Yet (bloomberg.com) 61
Netflix will release 70 original movies in 2021, the company said in a statement Tuesday, touting the streaming service's most ambitious slate yet as the theatrical movie business remains stuck in limbo. From a report: Netflix's lineup of movies includes one of its most expensive to date, "Red Notice," an action movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, as well as sequels to its hit romantic comedies "The Kissing Booth" and "To All the Boys I've Loved Before." The streaming service has also commissioned more than a dozen dramas, including the directorial debut of Halle Berry and a feature starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. Once a naughty word among filmmakers loyal to movie theaters, Netflix is now one of the few reliable studios in town. Netflix is increasing its output as theaters remain closed in much of the world. The pandemic has made it hard for rival studios to release their projects, and many of them have delayed most of their top titles until more theaters are open.
Success by random chance (Score:1)
And as usual, only one will be good enough to sit through.
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Do that many people here actually LIKE the Netflix home grown content?
I"m really about to drop them after being a customer almost since their inception.
I'll likely keep the blu-ray rental since apparently I"m grandfathered in at the 3 disk at a time out (I just missed the 4 disk one)....since I can get "real" movies that way.
But I just don't find anything in their home grown stuff to want to watch.
I will admit, I"m not the type of person to just click on anything to "give it a try"
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Re:Success by random chance (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a real mixed bag. I've found that some of the best originals were produced for non-US TV networks -- Babylon Berlin and Dark were both top-notch, HBO-quality shows, German-produced and starring German talent.
I'd say Netflix originals are about a 30% success rate. At this point, I can't tell if the worst ones were commissioned by Netflix or if they were produced externally and Netflix just bought them. The Crown is good, House of Cards (at least the first 2-3 seasons), and probably a few others, but so many are just so-so.
I think Netflix buys some shows with big name casts/directors/etc because they become available cheap for some reason (which I often assume is test audiences hating them or some other problem) and then slaps their 'original' banner on them. Some seem actually produced by Netflix, but its like the whole production was done via algorithm, with some well-known cast members eating the budget and the remaining budget driving the screenplay, resulting in stories that take place in an empty room or something because that's all the rest of the budget would allow.
I don't get the idea that Netflix has successfully setup their own "studio" or production company, or if they have, it's awful. It seems more like they're just buying productions from existing production companies who may or may not be aiming for Netflix as the buyer. Even then it's not clear that Netflix has done anything besides saying "we want a science fiction program" and then providing a budget.
I'd actually be willing to dump Netflix, but its kind of popular with others in the house.
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RE: House of Cards: Don't watch it. While it was great until the last season, what they did after Spacey was cancel cultured was essentially destroy the show to the point it made the earlier great seasons seem like a travesty. Just complete and utter destruction of everything the show did right in that last season.
I do know of at least a few shows that were being developed and produced long before Netflix became aware of them that then get the Netflix Original banner attached to them when they are put up,
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what they did after Spacey was cancel cultured was essentially destroy the show to the point it made the earlier great seasons seem like a travesty. Just complete and utter destruction of everything the show did right in that last season.
Let this be a shining, stinking example of the toxic effect of cancel culture.
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They started out really strong with a few very good original series, but in their 2020 originals I haven't found any to my liking.
I'm keeping the subscription for now, but I'd like to see a few strong
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Death to 2020 was a godsend. Which lead us to Floor is Lava, which is something I'm surprised hasn't happened before now. They do have some interesting imported content that's really cool, though that doesn't really count as homegrown. Think "The Rain" (apocalypse story) or Norsemen (vikings as satire). They've got some decent content, but it does seem to be getting harder and harder to tell which will be worth watching and which will be complete dumpster fire trash.
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+1 for "Death to 2020".
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Am I the only one who was disappointed? Due to its heritage I thought it was going to be like Newswipe, but then it turned out to have actors, doing typical comedy.
I literally would have enjoyed it more if I didn't know Brooker was involved. It's kind of like if the surviving members of Led Zeppelin made a new Led Zeppelin album: it would "suck" even if it were good.
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I was wanting to ask.
Do that many people here actually LIKE the Netflix home grown content?
Yes. And no.
I'd say the same thing about most other channels, networks, and streaming services. I mean... I have no use for anything on ESPN, but HBO, Starz, Hulu, Apple, Disney, ABC, NBC... they've all got one or two (or more) things that I like, and a whole port-a-potty load of stuff I don't.
Same as it ever was.
It's just that now that you're paying for individual "channels", you question its value more. We're frankly in a golden age of entertainment. There's so much good stuff to watch. Of cour
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Nope, so far I like almost nothing of what Netflix has been producing. I realized their tastes and mine don't seem to align at all. Even when I *should* like it, like the Witcher or Ghost in the Shell, I just found it cringy. I eventually gave up and cancelled.
I decided I'd like to see the Mandalorian, so I'm switching to Disney+ for a while. Very fun show - worth the price of admission, and now I'm going through some of the Marvel and Disney movies I haven't seen, as well as a bunch of documentaries.
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I just cancelled Netflix because I realised I was only watching stuff I can actually watch for free (UK comedies I can get on free on demand services, plus I've seen them a million times anyway). There's been nothing I've had any real desire to watch since maybe Daredevil (and I got bored of that before the end of the first season). I think I just hate modern TV and that's all Netflix offers now (I recently watched the whole of Murder She Wrote and found that far more entertaining than most things I've trie
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I don't like all of their content but I do love their docuseries, etc. I honestly don't watch enough TV to really pay for much of anything else but, yeah, I do like their in-house content.
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Do that many people here actually LIKE the Netflix home grown content?
I still remember all the fuss over "Bird Box"... and it was the most boring, ridiculous thing I had watched that had big name actors in it. I laughed when Sandra Bullock kept calling for "Boy!" and "Girl!" because she couldn't be bothered to give the kids name. Netflix took what was suppose to be a tense, emotional moment (a mother desperately trying to find her missing children), and turned it into a comical farce. I avoid almost anything that Netflix produces.
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> Do that many people here actually LIKE the Netflix home grown content?
Aside from Cobra Kai [netflix.com], Lucifer [netflix.com] and the odd documentary The Social Dilema [netflix.com], My Octopus Teacher [netflix.com], etc. which are all excellent, I'm finding less and less reason to have a Netflix subscription.
Westworld turned to shit [youtube.com] in Season 3. Same for Stranger Things [youtube.com] Season 3.
> I will admit, I'm not the type of person to just click on anything to "give it a try" to watch it.
> So, that may be a problem....
Nothing with that. The problem is 95% of
Buh bye, Theaters (Score:4, Insightful)
Theaters are an outdated business model that have failed to adapt to changes in the industry. I am reminded of the music industry in the 90s/2000s. Ticket prices are sky high and the movie quality is mostly garbage. I, for one, welcome our streaming overlords.
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You think you dislike being around other human beings?
I'm single, I live alone and I removed the mirror in the bathroom so I don't have to see myself in the morning!
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The theatre business is taking a hit just like many other businesses. Many will close permanently due to COVID19 and the increase in streaming services, sure. But to say its an outdated business model is like saying that restaurants are outdated after one has bought a new microwave. It's a bit short-sighted and stupid.
Instead, realise that when once one could watch movies only in theatres are there now more choices available to everyone and one can choose to keep going to theatres for special occasions. Sit
Re:Buh bye, Theaters (Score:4, Insightful)
The music industry is very healthy and very much alive, despite the "outdated" business model. In fact, you and I can probably agree things were better with the outdated model because you could own music. Most music today is streamed and that's it. Billions of dollars sunk into streaming services where you don't own the music, but merely rent it. So I'd say the music industry is doing really well.
And the movie industry is doing even better - streaming is killing physical disc. Great in one respect, lousy in another because now you not only don't own it, you merely rent it and it can disappear at the drop of a hat. One day you're watching a Disney movie, the next day you have to subscribe to Disney+.
Theatres aren't going anywhere, just like music concerts haven't gone anywhere, and both have the same restrictions. If anything, the desire to go out has only gotten stronger and once they return, the few that remain will experience extremely strong growth.
The economic recovery will begin in 2021 if the US doesn't screw it up, and 2022 will be the year of strong growth that was simply from pent-up demand.
Oh yeah, ticket prices will be even higher - the strongest survive and now that most of the competition has been wiped out, it paves the way to cash in.
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Ticket prices are sky high...
No, they aren't. People always scream about ticket prices, but they have pretty much held steady with the rate of inflation.
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Theaters are an outdated business model that have failed to adapt to changes in the industry.
Maybe in your country. In the rest of the world they are more popular and more profitable than ever and very much expanding in most of the world. In the past 10 years they've set 8 box office records which is even more impressive given everyone in America claims they are dying.
Hardly the balance sheet of an outdated business model.
As for failing to adapt, not sure what you're talking about. Fundamentally they are adapting to constantly stay ahead of rest of the industry. Hell my local cinema chain has its o
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Outdated, maybe. But I actually enjoy going to the cinema for a movie. Amongst my circle of friends we've made a point of going once a month (or so) to go see a film, assuming theres anything worth watching. Tends to be those marvel films, its mindless entertainment, but its still entertainment.
The Cinema is next door to a pub, so we can grab a few pints first, then after the film find a resturant.
This is *social* stuff, and I'll miss it if it goes.
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Comparison (Score:2)
"Red Notice," an action movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot
Will be interesting to see if someone else can make a really good action movie with Gal Godot again... we know it can be done from the first Wonder Woman. She is an actress that deserves better roles.
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Will be interesting to see if someone else can make a really good action movie with Gal Godot again... we know it can be done from the first Wonder Woman.
I take it you're not a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise? Because she starred in four of those films before taking on the mantle of Wonder Woman. In fact, looking through her filmography, it's dominated by action films: four Fast & Furious films, four DC Extended Universe films, a Netflix action film (Triple 9) with another on the way, and the list goes on. By my count, she's only been in four films that aren't classified as an action-something (e.g. action, action-comedy, action-thriller, etc.) f
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I believe SuperKendall was referring to the quality of roles, not her presence in action films per se.
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I take it you're not a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise? Because she starred in four of those films
I've watched some of them and like them OK, but honestly didn't even know she was in them - it didn't seem like she had that large a role? I think Gal Godot makes an excellent leading actress and is kind of wasted in a support role.
I've not seen Triple 9, will check that out.
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To be clear, I'm not suggesting the F&F films are great action films. I've only seen the first three F&F films, none of which were even remotely close to being good in my opinion, missed the fourth one, and then saw the fifth one, which had Gadot in it and was actually halfway decent. I've heard that 5 was the turning point for the series and that things improved dramatically starting there, but I can't speak beyond 5 from firsthand experience. And to your point, 5 had Gadot as a supporting characte
How (Score:1)
How are these new movies being made? It takes an army of people to create a feature film and most of my friends in the industry are out of work due to social distancing.
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Extensive use of green screens and RTX. Also, real-time projections like ones used at "The Mandalorian".
With all that, you can cut costs so much... Imagine you no longer have to build anything, just unroll a green plastic over a building face and you can be walking inside Buckingham Palace or The Capitol...
Even weapons and other objects are painted in green in some movies, so they can "replace" with a digital one with fire and other VFX.
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So that's why nobody can find nVidia's latest GPUs. Hollywood is buying them all to make new movies!
Happy if theatres go... (Score:2)
Here in Australia, over the holidays my missus wanted to take my daughter to the movies to watch a movie....
Now, the movie was already released on streaming - and had I gone, I would have had to sit the entire movie in a mask.
add the million dollars for the ticket, and any food purchased.
I said 'F' that - why not stay home and watch it.
my setup at home?
100 inch 4k projector, and 5.1 surround sound.
why would I want to go to the movies?
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I only use a 21" 1080p display and stereo headphones to watch movies and I still wouldn't want to go to the theatre. I mean, I didn't even want to go to the theatre before COVID-19, but at least now my preference seems normal.
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US$0.78
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The "theater" experience has been far inferior to what one can obtain at home for about 3 decades and keeps falling further and further behind. Especially with the current trend of everything being "direct to videotape/digital" and shoddy CATRS(tm) (Compressed All To Rat Shit) video quality. About the only thing that is missing from "streaming media" (such as NetFlix) that would make it perfect is proper High-Definition Audio -- though the current low bitrate CATRS Dolby Digital is far better than the sti
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For three decades? Your claim is debatable for modern day let alone that far back. Shit, it wasn't even until well into the 90's that flat tube TVs were sold and projection TVs were garbage back then.
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Why do you think that there is anything wrong with cylindrical or spherical TV tubes or that "projection TV's" were garbage back then? Stating your opinion does not constitute fact, nor does pleading a conclusion without the underlying pleadings of fact form a coherent argument.
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Stating your opinion does not constitute fact, nor does pleading a conclusion without the underlying pleadings of fact form a coherent argument.
Much like your parent post!
Please, lead the way and show me these fine pieces of 90's television technology that even approach theater quality.
Dolby killed them (Score:2)
A very good home theater setup can be done for under $2,000 with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and even some money to spare for content.
Previously 1080p TVs with 5.1 setups were okay, but the movie theaters experience was noticeably better. Now, not so much.
To be technical, most theater projectors are already 2K or at best 4K:
https://www.barco.com/en/produ... [barco.com]
They would have much higher lumens (6000+), but HDR standard is 400 to 2000 nits, which is actually comparable (not the same units, depends on size)
The
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"Previously 1080p TVs with 5.1 setups were okay, but the movie theaters experience was noticeably better."
This was perhaps true up until about 1990. Since then the performance of home equipment is far superiour in every way to what can be obtained in any theater (except for the very few very good and very expensive theaters). Every year the theater experience gets worse and worse. The "digital artifacts and compression noise" are far more noticeable on a theater screen than they are on decent home equipm
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Once again, regular home sets were really inferior in terms of color quality and audio. There is no way around that.
Now, not so much.
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It was entirely possible to get even the "Never Twice the Same Colour" TVs properly calibrated once "vacuum tubes" were replaced with solid-state processors, even when the final analogue video output was based on Cathode Ray Tubes. Even to this very day, shitty TVs produce shitty pictures because the manufacturers' want it that way notwithstanding the analogue output technology.
These deliberate design and calibration flaws embraced by TV manufacturers are no simpler nor complicated to correct now.
Does Netflix do movies any more? (Score:2)
If Netflix wants me to continue subscribing, they should spend less effort on new original series that they are going to cancel after one season, and instead start restoring their dwindling movie library. Unlike years past, 4 out of 5 movies I want to watch aren't available any more. And as silly as it is, those movies ARE available on the Netflix DVD-by-mail plan - maybe I should cancel streaming and just go with the DVDs. What happened? Lots of times, I look up movies and find articles from only a few
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Unlike years past, 4 out of 5 movies I want to watch aren't available any more. And as silly as it is, those movies ARE available on the Netflix DVD-by-mail plan - maybe I should cancel streaming and just go with the DVDs. What happened?
There is no technical reason for this, but pure Hollywood legal bullshit. A buyer of a movie on disc can rent it out, but the same movie is only available to stream for a limited, contracted length of time, after which it "expires." So if you want movies on Netflix, stay with a DVD subscription.
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No you can't. Or do you not know what that whole unskippable FBI warning at the beginning of movies say?
You are allowed to rent out the plastic disc, yes, that's yours, but the content encoded on that disc can only be displayed in a private small setting.
You can apply for performance licenses that will let you display a movie to a larger group, many care homes do that so the residents can watch a movie together using standard discs.
It's also why Warner got RedBox an
Importing foreign movies isn't "original content" (Score:2)
Sorry, but importing movies from the Eastern bloc and Asia isn't "original content."
Good! (Score:2)
I've been waiting for Gadot!
Netflix's lineup of movies includes one of its most expensive to date, "Red Notice," an action movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot...
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Hey Netflix, quality not quantity (Score:2)
cable vs streaming (Score:1)
Don't like Netflix (Score:1)