Posted in: Movies | Tagged: disney, netflix, Netflix CEO, weinstein company

80 Original Netflix Films On Slate For 2018 Release

They said they were gonna, so it should come as no surprise that Netflix is continuing its foray into original programming via film.  The streaming service has pledged up to 80 original films in the coming year.

Speaking about these original releases, chief content officer Ted Sarandos today during an interview regarding Netflix's 2017 third quarter results said:

"They range anywhere from the million-dollar Sundance hit, all the way up to something on a much larger scale."

On the upper end of the scale, there are titles like the Will Smith starring film Bright, which Sarandos described as a "big-budget, event movie. I think people will start seeing the potential for this original movie initiative, that it could be done on the enormous scale we have on the television side."

CFO David Wells said on Monday that Netflix content spending in 2018 will be between $7 billion and $8 billion.  This is up from $6 billion spent in 2017. "There's no timing correlation between our intent to grow content and to grow content spending and the price increases," Wells said. "This has been planned for a long time."

One of the biggest bits of news this year that could have severe lasting impacts on Netflix was the decision to end Disney's movie-output deal with Netflix with 2019 releases.  The House of Mouse is launching their own streaming service, and it WILL include the various Marvel Studios and Star Wars titles from then on.

On this subject Sarandos said, "We just have to focus on creating content that our members can't live without… Whether or not one of our partners decides to produce for us or compete with us, that's really a choice that they have to make based on their own business."

Reed Hastings the Netflix CEO brought up the fact that outside the U.S. territories Netflix has only carried Disney content in Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada. "Although [Disney's] got an enormously significant brand… we've done very well in international without it," he said.

Netflix will also NOT be putting an offer on the Weinstein Company.

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