Welcome to a recap of all the big Netflix news that took place throughout last week (this post is a little belated!) which includes plenty of new project announcements, a few castings and some big news from the UK which could affect Netflix greatly.
If you missed our recap last week, check back with that post here.
Monday, March 22nd
- BRZRKR will be coming to Netflix starring Keanu Reeves with both a live-action movie and an anime spinoff series.
Tuesday, March 23rd
- The Circle and Too Hot To Handle will both return to Netflix this Spring in what they’re dubbing “Reality Wednesday”. Unfortunately, so much of the media took the release schedules for the new seasons as news that Netflix is ditching their binge all at once strategy or reporting as if this was brand new. It’s not.
Chelsea Handler had a weekly chat show on Netflix as did Joel McHale and Hasan Minhaj.
Reality series Rhythm + Flow released in batches as did The Circle S1.
International series release on Netflix weekly (there are 6-7 K-dramas in the US doing this right now)
— Kasey Moore (@kasey__moore) March 24, 2021
- David E. Talbert and Lyn Sisson-Talbert who worked on Netflix’s Jingle Jangle have signed deals with Netflix for future content.
- Evan Peters will be teaming up with Ryan Murphy for the upcoming limited series Monster.
- Tyler Perry’s next Netflix project lands at Netflix called A Jazzman’s Blues.
Wednesday, March 24th
- Carton Brew reported that a prolific filmmaker who has worked at Disney in recent years has struck a new deal with Netflix. Ronnie Del Carmen will be creating new features and consult on other Netflix animated projects.
- The April 2021 lists were released and the PR list for Netflix US was particularly unimpressive on the licensed side particularly compared to the UK list.
- Ted Sarandos is set to headline at The Banff World Media Festival which is set to take place on June 14th, 2021.
- Beef, a new 10-episode series from A24 with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong starring landed at Netflix according to Deadline.
Thursday, March 25th
- The Nielsen top 10 list revealed that Netflix held 22 spots in their top 30 list split into originals, acquired titles and movies. This monitored the viewing stats between February 22nd and February 28th. Ginny & Georgia was at the top of the Originals list, Good Girls for the acquired list and I Care A Lot on the movies.
- Two Distant Strangers, the Oscar-nominated short film joined Netflix’s lineup increasing Netflix’s tally of Oscar-nominations to 37.
- Trouble could be brewing in the United Kingdom with UK lawmakers reportedly signaling that they could soon introduce legislation that would require services like Netflix to produce viewing stats to broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV.
- Sticking with UK news, Netflix will co-produce/co-release the Steven Moffat series Inside Man and is one of a number of projects the two companies are working on together.
- We learned that Netflix had scheduled Sarah Paulson’s thriller Run that premiered on Hulu in the US will be coming to Netflix internationally in April.
Friday, March 26th
- The two creators behind Condor which first premiered on Audience but will soon head to Epix will be joining the Netflix movie The Cipher which also has Jennifer Lopez attached according to Deadline.
- Netflix revealed a large portion of its 2021 anime slate with “40 new original anime titles” releasing this year. Our list indicates Netflix may beat these targets.
- A release date for the final season of The Kominsky Method was set for late May 2021.
Odds and Ends
- Must Watch: Netflix Edition was gracious enough to host me on their podcast this week. We spoke about Sky Rojo and The Serpent and the differences in the Netflix UK and US libraries. You can listen on Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts (or anywhere else you get your podcasts).
- Filming delays are still a thing as last week we missed the story on Vikings: Valhalla being delayed for 2 months after the first part of filming wrapped just before Christmas. It’s unclear whether COVID-19 is the cause given that cases in Ireland, where the show films, remains relatively low.
- We welcomed Josh Shepherd for a guest post this week where he discussed how Netflix could come out winning if they target the faith market.
- On Friday, Netflix released one of their regular pieces where they talk about which titles traveled well from their original country on the service.
Rumor of the Week
Unfortunately, not a huge rumor this week nor is it one with much meat to it. We’ve all known Netflix has been a big buyer of Paramount movies throughout the pandemic whether it be The Trial of the Chicago 7 or The Lovebirds for global release or Spongebob: Sponge on the Run internationally. Those sales aren’t over as we’ve heard another big Paramount movie could soon be lined up for release on Netflix.
