…this evening the streaming video company announced another bold move with with respect to original movie programming: a four-picture deal with Adam Sandler. Sandler will star and produce four untitled movies for Netflix exclusively.
“People love Adam’s films on Netflix and often watch them again and again. His appeal spans across viewers of all ages —everybody has a favorite movie, everyone has a favorite line— not just in the U.S. but all over the world,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a press release.
In general I’m all in favor of Netflix disrupting the distribution space. I’m happy to see them bringing us original TV shows. But I am a little uneasy with how they are going about it. Yes, it’s true they are in a position to be a very good analytics and demographics company, but it seems to me that making TV shows and films based on what they perceive their demographics want is a great way to sap all the joy and creativity out of a thing. Then again, I’m torn because it did work very well for House of Cards. They thought their users would be very happy and interested in a show like that, and so they got David Fincher to do it and the results speak for themselves. But it doesn’t feel completely true and honest.
Then there’s the aspect that I don’t want to give up the big screen experience. I want to continue to get the big theater experience, then come back to the film on Netflix later when it’s been released to the general public in that way. Am I just turning into an old fuddy duddy?