Topline:
Netflix has been undergoing a reorganization of its films division, following the hiring of Dan Lin to head it. The moves suggest the recalibrated direction for what has been the most profligate, high-volume movie studio in Hollywood.
Why it matters: Netflix’s original films division was spun up from nothing in the mid-2010s and grew to make more than one movie a week. Lin has started to make changes in what the division will prioritize, including making fewer movies, but putting a higher priority on quality, reining in costs and producing a greater variety of films.
Genres coming soon to Netflix: Based on the internal restructuring of Netflix’s development teams, horror and faith-based movies appear to be the most likely new types of movies to appear more among Netflix’s original films. In addition, it may expand its roster of comedies beyond romantic comedies and ones starring Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart.
Unanswered questions: Based on what can be extrapolated from other movies that fit within those categories which have been on Netflix, it’s not clear how much audience there is for horror or faith-based films. That said, Netflix does have 80 million U.S. subscribers, so it represents a broad swath of the population and those movies have been bright spots overall, particularly in their box-office performance.
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