Netflix is looking to make its own version of Star Wars or Harry Potter – that is, a big PG-friendly fantastical "adventure film" that's specifically along the lines of A New Hope, or the first two Harry Potter adaptations.
That's according to a new interview with Tendo Nagenda, VP of Original Film at Netflix. When asked which movies are on the streaming service's wish list, Nagenda's answer pointed towards more fantasy movies aimed at families. "We're looking at big, broad-audience, PG-level adventure films as something that we want to get into. Something along the lines of the first Star Wars, or Harry Potter 1 and 2. A lot of family live action, fantasy, spectacle movies that we think are big and can play great. A Jumanji-type of story. That is the next frontier."
Nagenda was previously based at Disney, and joined Netflix in August 2018, so this kind of film is presumably a good fit for his expertise.
If you're wondering whether Netflix will run out of original movies to release this year, too, good news: it won't. "We have a lot of runway, definitely through 2020 and part of 2021," Nagenda said on the subject, underlining that Netflix is "still in pretty good shape" on upcoming films.
The next major Netflix movie is the superhero-themed Project Power, which arrives on August 12.
In the long term, Netflix recently made a deal with Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo Brothers to make The Gray Man, a reportedly $200 million+ spy movie that'll star Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling.
- Best Netflix movies
- How to watch the Star Wars movies in order
- How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order
Does Netflix have what it takes to make blockbuster movies?
Netflix has gotten very good at hiring prestige directors to come in and make great movies that they want to make – Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, Alfonso Cuarón's Roma and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman prove this is the case.
Netflix is still far from being our favorite place for bigger crowd-pleasing movies, though. Movies like Extraction and The Old Guard are perfectly adequate viewing for our lockdown-ridden year – but if we were given the choice to see movies at the theater in 2020, we might've skipped them altogether.
Still, given the uncertain future of theatrical experiences, Netflix's delivery mechanism is most welcome. Hopefully, it'll get to the point where all of its attempts to make blockbuster-style films land.
- New movies 2020: what's coming out this year?
