Netflix buys $185 million blockbuster

In another sign Netflix is serious about getting into the blockbuster movie business, the streamer has closed a deal to buy a big-budget movie starring The Rock.

According to Deadline, Red Notice is an international heist thriller about a chase for the most wanted art thief in the world.

Netflix swooped in and bought the project thanks to a loophole after the movie had already gone to Universal after an intense bidding war.

Dwayne Johnson was already attached to star with Rawson Marshall Thurber set to direct. Thurber and Johnson have already worked on Central Intelligence and Skyscraper together.

Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot have also been signed on to Red Notice. Together, the three leads already front money-making franchises and are a formidable force in attracting audiences.

According to Box Office Mojo, Johnson’s movies have made $US9.7 billion in global ticket sales.
 

Deadline reported that Red Notice was one of the biggest movie packages to be put together last year when it was at pitch stage, and included a $28.73 million ($US20 million) salary for Johnson. The production budget is said to be in the $185 million ($US130 million) range.

Red Notice is due to go into production early next year. Johnson’s company Seven Bucks Productions is one of the producers.

Johnson said in a statement that Red Notice’s goal is to “break down traditional barriers and create a true global event for the audience”.

Increasingly, Netflix’s global reach and large audience have become appealing for filmmakers who want as many eyeballs as possible on their projects.

The barrier to entry to their movies is much lower when subscribers only have to press a button in their lounge room instead of trekking to a physical cinema and paying $40 for two tickets.

Netflix claimed the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston movie Murder Mystery was watched by 30 million accounts around the world in the first three days of release.

The streamer, which has 149 million global subscribers, has recently signed George Clooney to star and direct Good Morning, Midnight, based on a best-selling novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton.

Later this year, Martin Scorsese’s anticipated Jimmy Hoffa movie The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale, will be released by Netflix.

Scorsese and Clooney are among the A-list directors flocking to Netflix, a cohort that also includes Guillermo del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Ava DuVernay and the Coen brothers. Earlier this year, Alfonso Cuaron won the Best Director Oscar for his Netflix movie, Roma.

Clearly Netflix is looking to balance its more high-end productions with mass appeal blockbusters if its acquisition of Red Notice is any indication.

In 2017, Netflix released David Ayer’s fantasy action movie Bright, starring Will Smith, after picking it up for a reported $US90 million.

The movie was widely derided by critics but had passionate fans. Netflix didn’t release viewership figures for Bright but Nielsen estimated 11 million Americans streamed the movie in the first three days of release. A sequel to Bright is in production.

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