Welcome back to another recap of the week that was for Netflix news – just like last week, lots of individual show and movie news. We’ll also cover some odds and ends and cover our rumor of the week.
Monday, March 8th
- Deadline reported (last Friday but missed from our last news roundup) that Netflix had acquired the worldwide rights to a new Christian Bale thriller The Pale Blue Eye spending $55 million to acquire the flick.
- Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) will be featured as the headline actor for a new movie from Blumhouse coming to Netflix called This Beast.
Tuesday, March 9th
- Netflix scooped a number of award nominations at the Baftas including British productions His House and The Dig getting nods.
- LeSean Thomas’s next Netflix project was revealed in the form of Yasuke.
Wednesday, March 10th
- Special was re-canceled for a second season and will be both longer in episodes and episode length.
- Netflix announced three untitled feature films from Nigerian filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan.
- The producers of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom are working on a new Netflix project called The Piano Lesson.
Congratulations to our American Cinema Editors Awards Nominees! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/sW5lqZbFjp
— Netflix Queue (@netflixqueue) March 11, 2021
- Docu-soaps Selling Sunset and Bling Empire were renewed for new seasons.
- A new YA series First Kill was announced starring Imani Lewis. Here’s what you can expect: “When it’s time for teenage vampire Juliette to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family, she sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope But much to Juliette’s surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter, from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find that the other won’t be so easy to kill and, unfortunately, way too easy to fall for.
FIRST KILL, a new series written and executive produced by Felicia D. Henderson (Moesha, Sister Sister, Empire, Soul Food), is coming to Netflix and starring our forever fave Imani Lewis! pic.twitter.com/XFppVWa5R2
— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) March 10, 2021
- Annie Murphy from Schitt’s Creek joins the second season of Russian Doll which got underway with filming in New York City this week.
via Daily Mail pic.twitter.com/ICC0cJSVH3
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) March 11, 2021
Thursday, March 11th
- A viral Tweet showing a new “test” that Netflix is performing could suggest that a clampdown of sharing accounts beyond your household (which is stated in the terms of service of Netflix but not heavily enforced) is on the horizon.
O no. Netflix doing the purge?!? pic.twitter.com/XXlHtfgfsy
— cupida nyong’o (@DOP3Sweet) March 9, 2021
- Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father has been renewed for season 5 and will air later in 2021.
- We got word that Netflix’s The Irregulars would be returning for a second season and is due to begin filming later this year.
- Firefly Lane takes the top spot in the Nielsen top 10 Original series for the US, The Sinner for the acquired titles, and War Dogs for movies all of which are on Netflix.
- A number of Netflix movies and TV series got nominated for the American Cinema Editors Awards.
Friday, March 12th
- Alex and David Pastor will be adapting Netflix’s smash hit movie Bird Box over for Spanish audiences on Netflix.
Bird Box is going to be getting a Spanish movie spinoff with Alex and David Pastor writing and directing. pic.twitter.com/OzOzwgDLpo
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) March 12, 2021
- EDENS ZERO, the new anime from the legendary creator behind Fairy Tale will be coming to Netflix (believed worldwide) later in 2021.
- Dev Patel’s first directorial debut in the form of action-thriller Monkey Man was sold to Netflix globally.
Odds & Ends
- In France this week, one hundred writers and directors penned a letter on upcoming reform that they argue would benefit the likes of streamers over the cinema industry. (h/t Saqib Shah on Twitter)
- A survey reported by Cord Cutters News reveals 30% of viewers would sign up for a new streaming service just to watch older shows. This somewhat aligns with our recent (and very unscientific) Twitter poll asking what people watching mainly on Netflix.
What do you mainly watch on Netflix nowadays?
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) March 9, 2021
- ICYMI: Emily Horgan recapped Netflix’s efforts last year in the kids space analyzing the TV series performance and the movie performance.
- More problems with censorship in India for Netflix with action likely to be taken against Bombay Begums.
Rumor of the week
Pinch of salt time on rumors that we’ve heard (this idea is completely stolen from TheDisinsider – sorry guys!). This could be well and truly false or true. Time will tell.
Cobra Kai has quickly become one of Netflix’s biggest hits and we’re hearing the show could be getting a spinoff in the form of a Mr. Miyagi prequel series of sorts. Again, nothing official on this one just something we’ve heard *may* be in the pipeline.
