With Aladdin producer Dan Lin taking over film leadership at Netflix from Scott Stuber, there will still be a commitment to a robust feature slate.
Such was the streamer’s co-CEO statements today on the company’s earnings call. Fielding a question from analyst Richard Greenfield about the New York Times report that reported Lin’s mandate was to make movies at Netflix “better, cheaper and less frequent” and how such a formula is possible, Sarandos defended, “We did not participate in that article.”
Sarandos said “that’s not a quote from Dan.”
“There’s no appetite to make fewer films,” said Sarandos, the streamer having release some 50 original features last year alone, with some previous year tentpoles costing the studio north of $200M, i.e. the Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man and some prestige pics like Noah Baumbach’s White Noise as much as $140M. And’s that’s without any downstream revenues a la a regular major studio theatrical title.
Sarandos did add, “(There’s) an unlimited appetite to make better films.”
The exec continues to stand on message, for in during January’s Q4 earnings call, Sarandos said post Stuber, “We do not plan to change our strategy or the mix” when it comes to film.
“We’re super excited to have Dan join the company, he joined a few weeks ago, and he’s running 100 miles per hour,” added the Netflix Boss.
Sarandos touted Lin’s accomplishments on the streamer, ” Dan produced the Oscar nominated Two Popes and (series) Avatar: The Last Airbender. He understands Netflix and the audience really well.”
In major earnings news, Netflix said today on the call that they’ll stop reporting quarterly subscriber numbers starting in 2025, a notable pivot given how their stock price fluctuates based on those figures. Netflix added that they’ll still continue to report subscriber milestones from time to time.
