The iconic Netflix introductory sound nailed the ideal length for binge-watching sessions. If you’re gonna pound 20 episodes of, say, Cobra Kai (the first two seasons come to Netflix on August 28 with a third season to follow), then you definitely don’t need a 16-second intro before each part. You already know where you’re at, what you’re watching, and so on, with no reminder/reassurance needed beyond a “ta-dum.” However, if you’re gonna go watch a Netflix movie in a theater, then 16 seconds is a drop in the bucket compared to the 80 trailers that have already played.
To that effect, Netflix decided to snazz things up for the future (for whenever movie theaters are safe places to go again, and people can go watch the next feature-length Spike Lee joint while surrounded by other humans). As detailed by the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast, Netflix is thinking ahead to those brighter times (not with a goat noise, though that would be something) and commissioned Hans Zimmer to compose an extended intro. Twitter user Siqi Chen plopped this up on Twitter.
The Netflix "ta-dum" soundmark is one of the all time greats, but doesn't work as well in a theater because it's only 3 seconds long.
So Netflix commissioned Hans Zimmer to extend it for theaters and … it's … so … good.pic.twitter.com/RGw26vCAGY
— Siqi Chen (@blader) August 9, 2020
Given that Tenet has been having quite an un-fun ride getting into theaters, hearing this work from the Interstellar, Inception, and Dunkirk composer is a reminder that we need life to get back to normal soon. Christopher Nolan’s giving it a shot, though, by rolling Tenet out globally in the coming weeks for Warner Bros. In the meantime, we can all press “play” again on the above sound and then go binge some more Netflix shows.
