Netflix is making a big change in 2024

❘ Published: 2023-11-08T11:47:50

Netflix

Amid price hikes, strikes, and other streaming shake-ups, Netflix is changing its strategy – and 2024 will mark a significant change for the platform.

The streaming boom has resulted in the illusion of having everything, everywhere, all at once. We all hold subscriptions to multiple services, whether it’s Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Peacock, or one of the countless others crying out for your direct debit payments.

But we don’t, do we? More often than not, people feel the need to settle for something rather than the one movie or TV show they wanted to watch, all while being fed each streamer’s never-ending onrush of original content, for better or worse.

Despite Netflix continuing to report enormous viewing numbers, either for licensed TV shows like Suits or movies like The Mother, the company’s changing its outlook on output heading into 2024.

Netflix is making less movies in 2024

Netflix has delivered some bangers in 2023: Extraction 2, The Deepest Breath, Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl shorts, and They Cloned Tyrone, to name a few. There’s more to come, including some awards contenders: David Fincher’s The Killer, Rustin, May December, Maestro, and Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon.

However, many have come, gone, and vanished from the public consciousness, whether it’s You People, Your Place or Mine, The Out-Laws, or Heart of Stone. Streamers are constantly vying for viewers’ attention, so Netflix is going to bet on quality over quantity.

In an interview with Variety, Netflix’s film head Scott Tuber explained: “We were growing a new studio. We’d only been doing this for a few years, and we were up against 100-year-old companies. So you have to ask yourself, ‘What is your business model?’ And for a while it was just making sure that we had enough. We needed volume.

“Right now, we’re not trying to hit a set number of film releases. It’s about ‘Let’s make what we believe in,’ and let’s actually put forth a slate that we can stand behind and say, ‘This is the best version of a romantic comedy. This is the best version of a thriller. This is the best version of a drama.’”

While Netflix was aiming to make 50 movies each year, it’ll now strive for between 25-30.

However, there’s still concerns over whether Netflix (and streaming) will ever inject itself into the cultural zeitgeist à la Barbenheimer, with its movies rarely connecting with people on a long-lasting scale. Stranger Things and Squid Game have proven it’s possible with TV, but films are received differently.

Rich Greenfield, an analyst with LightShed Partners, told the outlet: “Maybe the question isn’t why hasn’t Netflix had more success in the movie business. Maybe it’s just that movies are playing second fiddle to TV.”

Stuber noted that Netflix has paid attention to how Amazon and Apple TV “raised a film’s profile” with longer theatrical runs, i.e. with Killers of the Flower Moon and Air – but don’t expect the streamer to follow suit. Subscribers remain the priority, he said.

“We’re a machine that was built to go, go, go. And that doesn’t always result in quality. A lot of streaming companies made the mistake of moving so fast that we made a lot of things that weren’t ready to be produced. I want to avoid that,” Stuber added.

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