It’s time for a look back at all the biggest Netflix news headlines this week that you may or may not have missed. Treat it as your one-stop-shop for catching up on all things Netflix.
Missed any of the headlines from last week? Catch up on those here.
Monday, April 5th
- Selena: The Series part 2 was moved up. It was scheduled to release in mid-May 2021 but now it’s scheduled for May 4th globally.
Tuesday, April 6th
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- Netflix picked up the global rights to the highly anticipated Chinese movie Super Me which stars Darren Wang, Song Jia and Cao Bingkun.
- The first project from the lucrative Netflix partnership with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was announced. It’ll be a sports documentary series about the Invictus games something Harry himself has had a long history with.
- Billboard reported that a Kanye West documentary has been sold to Netflix for an estimated $30M. The doc will look back at the rapper’s life and is due out later in 2021.
- Netflix announced 9 new or returning Colombian series including the return of Chichipatos season 2 on April 30th.
- We reported that Netflix has scooped the global rights (albeit after it airs first on Nickelodeon) to a new 3D Smurfs series and will also carry the classic Smurfs toon too.
- Mark Millar suggests that The Magic Order is still going ahead in some form via his newsletter saying “the long-awaited sequel to The Magic Order kicks off after Summer and volumes 2, 3 and 4 currently being drawn in preparation for the upcoming Netflix live-action series.”
Wednesday, April 7th
- New trailer for Jupiter’s Legacy coming to Netflix in May 2021. Given the production problems with the show, it’s amazing we get to see it in any form but the online reaction has been very mixed, to say the least.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3IAqm-gpE
- According to data released to Variety from Netflix, all of Netflix’s Oscar nominees (of which there are 37 currently) have seen a small or dramatic rise in viewing with A Love Song for Latasha having an over 1800% increase in viewing.
Source: Variety
- Netflix Australia announced a new docu-soap called Byron Baes which will follow a feed of Instagrammers living their best lives.
- AnimeNewsNetwork reports that Netflix is set to adapt the Japanese manga Hiyama Kentarō no Ninshin (Kentarō Hiyama’s First Pregnancy) as a live-action series that will release in 2022.
- Along for the Ride, the YA feature film adaptation which was announced back in May 2019 is set to go into production at either the end of this month or the start of next.
Thursday, April 8th
- By far the biggest news item this week was Netflix picking up the first window rights to Sony Pictures movies from 2022 onwards. The deal goes beyond that though with Netflix also being able to scoop up some of Sony’s direct-to-video titles exclusively. Variety has the best coverage of any but the Netflix press release is worth reading too.
- Asterisk is coming to Netflix in the form of an animated series but according to Variety, the upcoming movie Asterix and Obelix, The Middle Kingdom may also make its way onto Netflix in multiple regions.
- It’s been known for a while season 5 of The Crown will film sometime this summer but now, we know it’s due to begin in July. The series has seen a resurgence in popularity according to Nielsen which was no doubt helped by the Oprah interview.
- Speaking of Nielsen, Netflix held 26 out of the 30 top spots in their top 10s this week. The biggest film for Netflix for the period between March 8th and March 14th was Yes Day with 402 million minutes. Ginny & Georgia kept its top spot on the Originals list with 722 million minutes. Criminal Minds continues its dominance at the top of the acquired list with 699 million minutes.
Odds and Ends
- With cinemas opening up soon and the landscape looking to be significantly different compared to pre-pandemic (smashed windows, profit sharing changes etc). Conversations about Netflix’s role in the cinema landscape continue to grow. Andrew Freedman of Hedgeye Communications suggests on Twitter that Netflix will begin releasing their tentpoles in theaters adding that it’s about providing the consumer with what they want:
$NFLX all about giving the consumer what they want… go day and date, but give up larger % to exhibition. $NFLX still comes out ahead. Win win.
— Andrew Freedman, CFA 🦅 (@HedgeyeComm) March 31, 2021
- Sticking with cinemas, All Your Screens Rick Ellis had interesting thoughts with Netflix and drive-in movie theaters which is well worth reading.
- The conversation also continues regarding Netflix’s big purchase of Knives Out. Some more details were fleshed out about what exactly Netflix bought (and what they didn’t) via THR. Andrew Rosen, a former Viacom executive spun the move as a positive saying: “Perhaps the best way to think of Netflix’s $450MM bet on the Knives Out franchise is not as Netflix flexing its muscle, but rather as a necessary step in its reimagining of how Netflix will deliver “cultural impact” in a world where DTC marketing has fewer returns.”
- Lots of reports out this week with regards to Netflix’s market share and the like but one we’d like to highlight is from OmdiaHQ who reports Netflix is actually doing quite well in India which is a highly sought after market.
- One trademark registration we came across this week is for The Night Shift. No Netflix show or movie has been announced with this name and you may know the name attached to the NBC drama. We’ll keep an eye on this one.
That’s it for this week – any big Netflix headlines we missed this week? We’ll update this post throughout Friday should any big announcements come up. Let us know in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter!
