Netflix vehemently refuses to release its original films on physical media. — unless Criterion comes in to save the day, such as they did with “Roma,” “The Irishman,” “Marriage Story” and “The Power of the Dog.”
All of this is not surprising since Netflix’s end goal is to not just get rid of the theatrical experience, but to also push physical media out of the way. They want movie fans to go fully digital — it’s all about subscription boosts.
Mike Flanagan, who was recently hired to steer the ‘Exorcist’ franchise in the right direction, has had a rich history with Netflix, having already helmed “Hush,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Before I Wake” for them. However, Flanagan says Netflix keeps refusing his requests for physical media releases of his own movies and TV shows.
While guesting on a panel this weekend, Flanagan slammed his former company, admitting that Netflix was “actively hostile” towards his idea of releasing any of works on physical media:
I tried very hard to get them to release my work on Blu-Ray & DVD. Netflix refused at every turn. It became clear very fast that their only priority was subs, and that they were actively hostile to the idea of physical media.
This is a very dangerous point of view. While companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors and have proven that they can affect great change in the industry, they sometimes fail to see the difference between disruption and damage. So much that they can find themselves, intentionally or not, doing enormous harm to the very concept of film preservation.
The irony is that Netflix started off as a DVD rental company. Nowadays, they dump all of their movies in an endless ocean of titles where films go to disappear. Having some of their worthier films, and there are more than a few, released on physical media would make them exist again, but they just don’t care about that.
Last week’s NYT interview with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was certainly an eye opener. I came to the conclusion that his job is to make movie theaters less exciting. It all came to a crescendo when he made the jaw-dropping assumption that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” would have been just as popular had they been released on his platform instead of theaters.
Regardless, Sarandos knows Netflix could be making more money by releasing some of their more popular titles on physical media, but this is all about upping their streaming numbers, shutting down theaters and keeping their throne as top dog of the streaming business.
It’s not just Netflix — all of the other streamers (Amazon, Disney+, Apple) have refused to release most of their original films. It’s come to the point where titles like “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “CODA,” “Barbarian” and “All of us Strangers” are still not on physical media.
Flanagan recently got the full rights back for 2016’s “Hush,” still the best film of his career, and has taken full advantage of this opportunity to set up a 4k release of it later this fall. I’m sure he’s trying to do the same thing with his other Netflix works, but it clearly hasn’t worked yet.
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