Having just conquered the box office in spectacular fashion with “Avengers: Endgame,” filmmaker Joe Russo is now offering his two cents on what it’s going to take to conquer the world of streaming. And while you may cry bias when you hear who he thinks will be the two companies fighting it out for streaming dominance, the director does bring up some interesting points.
“The closest race to watch is Disney versus Netflix,” Russo said, while speaking at the 2019 Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles (via Variety).
He added, “Netflix is at volume, and they have to get their volume to quality. Disney is at quality, and they’ve got to get volume. We’ll see who gets there first, because that will set market dominance.”
Sure, it’s a bit premature to count Disney as one of the big guns in the Streaming Wars, but the studio does enter the fray with some serious firepower. First, you have the combined libraries of Disney and Fox, which are pretty substantial, to say the least, filled with some of the best films ever created.
Then you have the large content spend that the Mouse House is currently doing, which sees the studio put in millions and millions into new shows and films for its Disney+ streaming service. Oh, and on top of that, there’s the fact that the studio has a controlling interest in Hulu, which could instantly provide a customer base that Disney might not have reached with just its family-friendly streaming service.
All told, Disney enters the market as an instant contender. But Netflix has been here for years, and has no signs of slowing down. But there’s a problem.
You see, Netflix decided years ago to invest big in original content, and it’s paying huge dividends. New TV series and original films are arriving weekly, with many of them turning into buzzworthy, must-see projects. But for every ‘Sabrina’ or ‘Bird Box,’ there’s about a hundred misses, and that’s what Russo is talking about.
He does say that Apple is a contender, but has to step up with both quality and quantity if it wants to play with the big dogs. And as for the death of cinema, courtesy of streaming, the ‘Endgame’ director ain’t buying it.
“We’re talking about trillion dollar companies using content as a branding tool,” said the director. “Some say the death knell for theatrical is streaming, but [‘Endgame’] is proof that they are supercharging each other.”