Here’s a sentence that we haven’t really written this year – Netflix actually turned down the chance to buy a major film.
One of the more odd film strategies for Netflix has been its way of purchasing the distribution rights to films that studios don’t have confidence in. Most famously, this happened with Paramount, when the streaming service purchased the distribution rights to two films, “The Cloverfield Paradox” and “Annihilation” (internationally), and released them on its platform without a theatrical run. This was reported to happen after Paramount decided that those films were too risky (and potentially expensive) to release in theaters and might result in a major loss.
So, in walks Netflix, piles of cash in hand, and those films found a home on the streaming service, with Paramount coming out either breaking even or minimizing the losses as much as possible.
According to new reports, Sony was hoping to enter a similar deal with Netflix. According to a tweet from The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde (as well as a report from Deadline), Sony was worried that its latest film “Holmes and Watson” would be a bomb at the box office after terrible reaction from test audiences and was hoping that Netflix would swoop in and write them a check to buy the distribution rights.
But apparently, Netflix didn’t take the bait.
“Netflix, which bought ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ from Paramount, reportedly turned down the opportunity to purchase the poorly-testing #HolmesAndWatson from Sony,” tweeted Duralde.
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You can hear the jokes now – “‘Holmes and Watson’ is so bad that Netflix wouldn’t even buy it! Hey oh!”
No reasons were given why the streaming service would turn down the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly comedy. Despite its poor reviews, “Holmes and Watson” seems like just the four-quadrant, lowest-common-denominator comedy that the streaming service absolutely loves. Why else would they shell out money on every Adam Sandler film unless Netflix fans are into that sort of crap…err, filmmaking.
Either way, it appears that Sony might not be in a terrible situation without that streaming money. In the first two days of release, “Holmes and Watson” has earned a respectable $10 million and might not be the massive bomb that the studio was worried about.
Netflix, which bought The Cloverfield Paradox from Paramount, reportedly turned down the opportunity to purchase the poorly-testing #HolmesAndWatson from Sony.
— Alonso Duralde ???????? (@ADuralde) December 27, 2018