Today it premiered its first ever original movie, Beasts of No Nation.
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Except it wasn’t actually a film, due to the distribution method. “[But] I was happy to shoot a movie”.
That’s a departure from Hollywood convention. It’s one of those cultures where people say “yes” even if they mean “no”, because they don’t want to offend you.
“Roughly half of our 65 million members around the world regularly watch kids content and with the addition of these seven diverse original series we are continuing our strong investment in kids programming”, said Andy Yeatman, Director of Global Kids Content for Netflix. “At the same time, they have the enviable position of being able to put out whatever they want because they don’t necessarily need the box office, they just need people to value it”.
Sarandos has been an outspoken advocate of day-and-date releases, much to the chagrin of theaters’ owners.
If audiences tire of the blockbuster action films that they view in droves, maybe.
Likewise, no matter how out there Beasts gets, whether Agu’s being asked to chop people up, snort “brown-brown” (a peculiarly African mix of cocaine and gunpowder) or participate in primitive initiation rituals, it doesn’t feel sensational. And they’ve staunchly resisted past attempts by studios to tamper with the model.
“Beasts” will have a lot of competition this weekend as the new Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks film, “Bridge of Spies“, and “Goosebumps”, a family film based on the beloved children’s books, also hits theaters. “It’s less incentive to see the movie in theaters”.
“Beasts of No Nation” is set, as the title implies, in an unnamed African country riven by civil war.
With China, Hong Kong and Singapore on the horizon, it’s no surprise that Netflix’s next set of releases – the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a Keith Richards rock-doc and Brad Pitt’s next political film – have global appeal.
Now boasting 65 million users worldwide, Netflix has spooked the movie industry, especially the theater chains. In 15 years, a media analyst was reported by The Independent to have told Sarandos, it would “destroy the ecosystem of film production in Europe”. But before you decide, remember this is also the company that green-lighted four Adam Sandler movies, the first coming your way in December.
Analysts are cautious about how big a wave Netflix will create in Hollywood with its latest strategy. Home delivery is the model and it may well be the future, but Netflix and Fukukaga made an argument for the importance of going to the theater.
“I think he went down, like, one step and then my AD [assistant director] sort of grabbed him by the arm and prevented a full tumble but I’m sure he would’ve been just fine”.
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In October, as the European Union considers a single Eurozone digital market, Netflix will move into Spain, Italy and Portugal. Fukunaga and his producers might reasonably have expected Beasts of No Nation to have a healthy festival life and worldwide arthouse release. This is a movie that depicts brutal hand-to-hand executions at the hands of children, and director Cary Joji Fukugana does not leave anything out.Fukugana (who, after making indie films, gained a few fame past year as the director of Season One of “True Detective”) also adapted the screenplay.
