A jaw-dropping revelation: Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has poked the streamer’s plans to release six animated movies a year at some point shortly. While the streamer has had some success in the animation category in the past.
Including scoring an Oscar nomination with the 2019 animated movie I Lost My Body, Netflix still hasn’t entirely made a name for themselves in animation on par with their name-brand recognition in other areas, like original TV programming. So, what’s going on here?
Let’s start with Sarandos’ comments to Variety in a current interview on being selected to achieve Variety’s Vanguard Award. While talking with the trade publication, Sarandos turned his gaze along Netflix’s future.
In doing so, he poked ambitions for the streamer to churn out 6 animated original films a year. And if you think I am exaggerating, read Sarandos’ comments for yourself:
Sarandos voicing a wish to do what no other primary studio — Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation, and so forth — is doing currently is commendable.
And while I can cherish that ambition, what Sarandos is expecting to achieve is, openly, unfathomable. There is a cause we only get one, maybe two animated films from major studios these days:
Animated films take a hell long time to create. We are talking two years minimum if you want to achieve, say, what Pixar’s acquired (that’s still a tight turnaround) over the years.
It is a high bar to fix when Netflix has a comparatively limited footprint in actual animated films to date. Plus, does “six movies a year” hint at Netflix’s dream of making animated franchises?
Are we discussing six one-off originals? And what kind of workforce are they expecting to assemble because we’re talking a hell of a lot of people to make six animated films unless Netflix plans to put it all on the shoulders of one team, which is just as unfathomable.
If Netflix can hit this goal and churn out six movies a year that succeed in quality and quantity (something the streamer currently struggles with), then perhaps my skepticism will be relieved. But until then, I’ll be watching curiously from the sidelines.
