The reason why Netflix movies are almost always terrible, according to science
As anyone who has watched a typical Netflix ‘mockbuster’ in the last couple of years knows all too well, these movies are almost always abysmal, missing the texture or grandeur generally associated with great cinema.
It is such unrelenting schlock that raises questions about why the average Netflix blockbuster, such as The Grey Man, Red Notice, or The Electric State, can star A-list actors and yet feel like they’re playing cardboard cutouts of their characters. How can they cost $200million to make, yet look like formless flat slop with considerably worse CGI work than films released in cinemas with a fraction of the budget?
Happily, this is where our old friend science can step in and offer an explanation for this mindboggling absurdity. Stat Significant’s Daniel Parris, who is always ready with a flow chart or wacky algorithm to scientifically crunch the numbers on seemingly subjective topics, began his findings with a compliment aimed at the streaming giant to set a level playing field.
He noted that Netflix doesn’t always make terrible movies, and for that, we only need to look at the first decade of them producing original films, where the streamer enlisted Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Noah Baumbach to craft the semi-autobiographical Marriage Story, and Alfonso Cuarón to introduce Roma‘s noir to the world. Couple these with other top-notch films like Rebel Ridge, Da 5 Bloods, Mank, and The Power of the Dog, and it becomes clear that Ted Sarandos’s content machine is capable of shepherding some great stuff to our screens.
However, these are the award plays with high-profile directors that the streaming giant uses to gain prestige and clout in Hollywood, but they’re far from the majority that forms the platform, which is littered with mockbusters aimed at people who just want to watch stuff blow up on a Friday night, and lower-budgeted variations on rom-coms, crime films, teen movies, and Christmas flicks.
The problem is that this glut of eminently forgettable material vastly outweighs the quality stuff Netflix produces, both in terms of cold, hard numbers and also presence in the cultural conversation. When Parris looked at the average online score for theatrically released movies vs Netflix movies on IMDb and Letterboxd, he found the former rated higher on both websites. Interestingly, he also found that Netflix’s average budget is less than major studios like Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Columbia, and Universal, which is shocking, but when you’re shovelling any money into subpar films that seem calibrated to be instantly forgotten, a lack of quality can’t help but shroud perception.
Unfortunately for Netflix, Parris also found that the streamer’s propensity for casting big stars on the downturn, such as Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry, and Kevin Hart, might net them more eyeballs, purely in terms of hours watched, but when paired with the lesser-known journeymen directors hired for most of its output, their star power is cancelled out. For example, the average score across the career of a Netflix director is lower than that of their theatrical counterparts, as are their average box office returns and number of directing credits.
To illustrate this point, Happy Gilmore 2 and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F were recently big hits for Netflix thanks to Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy and a heavy dose of nostalgia-baiting, but when it comes to naming the directors, everyone’s likey to draw a blank, and most often, these unfortunate filmmmakers don’t even have stars like Sandler and Murphy to bail them out.
In conclusion, Parris believes that the majority of Netflix’s movie output is wont to remain subpar until it can convince more high-quality directors to abandon theatrical releases and put their movies on a platform filled to breaking point with disposable ‘content’. However, considering there is still huge prestige and a deep emotional connect to theatrical distribution for most directors, it being the birthplace of sharing their craft with the work, many are more likely to accept a smaller budget and a lighter payday from a Warner Bros or a Paramount over working with Netflix.
