You’ll soon be able to watch Idris Elba as a brutal West African mercenary from the comfort of your own home. That’s because Netflix has again made a play against movie studios by reportedly purchasing the rights to Cary Fukunaga’s adaptation of Beasts Of No Nation. From Deadline:
The movie has been screened quietly by WME Global, and numerous bids came in. I’m hearing that Netflix is closing a deal in the vicinity of $12 million for worldwide rights. The big play is for its global streaming service, but the movie will have a theatrical component as well and a vigorous push in Oscar season.
This joins a slew of other films coming exclusively to Netflix over the next few years, including a group from Adam Sandler, another from The Duplass Brothers, and a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. From The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix beat out bids from Fox Searchlight and Focus in the acquisition war, showing how much it wants to have first-rate feature material. On top of the Sandler and Crouching Tiger movies, Netflix is making a new Pee-Wee Herman film, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, and made a four-picture deal with the Duplass Brothers.
Netflix’s biggest acquisition so far may be Jadotville, a siege film starring Jamie Dornan for which the company paid $18 million during the Berlin Film Festival
I can’t say I don’t like the news. Beasts was definitely a movie on my radar and now that access just became a non-issue, I can’t wait to see it (brutal subject matter aside). The film allegedly already has a lot of awards buzz swirling around it, so it’ll interesting if we’ll be seeing a Netflix/streaming presence in the big film categories next year (it’s also there for documentaries).
Access to films has always been the one thing that hinders some from seeing movies when they’re released. Having more eyes on a film can’t be a bad thing, even if the box office is hindered. I can’t say that I would’ve saw a new Pee Wee Herman movie in the theaters or watched The Interview on Christmas Day, but having them on Netflix does make it a lot easier.
(Via Deadline / The Hollywood Reporter)
