Last weekend, news hit regarding Hulu’s new deal with Epix, leaving many questioning Netflix’s motives regarding future movie streaming acquisitions. The addition of these blockbuster movies to Hulu’s library will only be a positive thing for the service as their 9-million subscriber base is really no match for Netflix’s 65-million.
One of the driving forces behind the platform’s steady growth over the past few years have, without a doubt, been their mostly outstanding (sorry, Hemlock Grove) slate of original programming. With Marvel’s Daredevil knocking it out of the park earlier this year — and those Emmy nominations for House of Cards and OITNB — it’s no wonder why Netflix has shifted more of their focus to new television series and adding to that buzz is their upcoming adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Back in 2002, the movie adaptation was just getting under way and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black, The Tick, Pushing Daisies) was on board to direct. However, a year later Sonnenfeld left the project due to budgetary concerns and Brad Siberling (City of Angels, Land of the Lost) took his place. What ended up hitting the big-screen in 2004 was considered an okay success for Paramount but didn’t have enough of an impact to kick off the movie franchise they were hoping for.
With the long-form narrative of television consistently gaining traction with audiences, Netflix has tapped Barry Sonnenfeld to helm the new series with the help of executive producer — and author of the original Lemony Snicket book series — Daniel Handler. Mark Hudis (True Blood, Amazon’s Hand of God) will act as showrunner and, although there is no news yet regarding casting or when the production will start shooting, the names behind the highly anticipated series are already making me giddy.
As a reminder, the Lemony Snicket books follow orphaned siblings Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire who are sent to live with their distant relative Count Olaf (played by Jim Carrey in the film). The kids end up attempting to escape the creepy old man’s clutches while trying to piece together what happened to their parents and claim ownership to the fortune that is rightfully theirs.
What Paramount originally was looking to as a movie franchise to battle the likes of Harry Potter in theaters over a decade ago looks to be getting a second glorious chance on the small-screen thanks to Netflix. Here’s hoping the new show will live up to the hype.
(Via Variety)
