Netflix to make less “little art films”

Borys Kit reports in The Hollywood Reporter on the plans Behind Netflix’s Leaner Movie Mandate: Bigger, Fewer and Better.

He writes:

Bigger, better, fewer. That is the refrain inside Netflix that feature film executives, led by division chief Scott Stuber, are grappling to operate under as the digital streaming giant changes course and confronts new realities, such as lagging subscriber growth (it lost 200,000 subs in its latest quarter) and rising competition (Disney’s bundle of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ now has 205 million subs combined, just behind Netflix’s 221 million global subs).”

With its stock price down, Netflix has cut 150 jobs and doubled down on marquee movies.

Borys continues:

“As it moves forward, Netflix wants to focus on making bigger movies, making better movies, and releasing fewer than it previously did at a gluttonous pace. ‘Just a few years ago, we were struggling to out-monetize the market on little art films,’ Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos told analysts on the company’s April earnings call. ‘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.‘”

My take: C’mon, Netflix. $469 million for Knives Out 2 and 3? That’s almost fifty $10 million movies. And one of those could be mine. Let’s talk! (P.S. Don’t you think the reason your subscriber numbers are down is because you rightly left Russia?)