In the past three months, it seems that Netflix has really begun to step up their game with the kind of films they are releasing. “Bright,” “The Cloverfield Paradox” and “Mute” have all shown that Netflix is trying to produce higher-budgeted content. These films would normally go to theaters first to show off how dazzling the special effects and action set pieces are, but now these kinds of films have just as much of a place on a streaming platform like Netflix.
While these films appear different from most of the fare that Netflix has produced or released in the past, they’re bad. Most of their more headlined films have been Adam Sandler comedies or very small-budgeted indie projects, and their biggest films have had very poor critical receptions with “Bright” having a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, 17% for “The Cloverfield Paradox” and 8% for “Mute.”
I think that this format can be successful in the future. Netflix has made it easier to watch quality content at home on your television, computer and mobile device. You can pick up your phone and watch the entire first season of “House of Cards” on your phone with one monthly subscription. I would assume that there is hope that they can continue to obtain the rights to or to produce films that would traditionally find their way to streaming services only after they have had a theatrical run.
I will always be the kind of person that enjoys going to a theater and sitting in a crowd of people to watch the next “Star Wars” or Marvel release, but I do not despise the idea of movies heading straight to Netflix. But if they are going to try to change the way feature films are being produced and shown, they need to choose better projects.
Netflix is not going to be done anytime soon with 80 Netflix original films scheduled to release in 2018 alone. Some of those projects sound interesting –– like Martin Scorsese’s next film, “The Irishman,” starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. But until they show me that they can produce better content, I will not be totally sold.
This article first appeared in the Friday, March 2, 2018, Edition of The Echo.