Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has entered into a related but different business through a deal with the Weinstein Company to release next year’s sequel of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The movie will release on Netflix along with a selected number of IMAX theaters, says a report from Variety.
No extra cost to subscribers
The sequel of Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning martial arts drama will be the first movie to be released on Netflix and in movie theaters. The movie will debut on Netflix on Aug. 28 without any additional fee to subscribers and is one of the many films that will release on the online streaming service under the new business model. Except for IMAX, the movie will not be released on any other theater screen.
Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix, noted that it is high time they offer what movie fans are looking for and transform conventional methods of movies debuting on theater screens. It usually takes several more months to get the movie on Netflix.
“What I am hoping is that it will be a proof point that the sky doesn’t fall,” Mr. Sarandos said. “These are two different experiences, like going to a football game and watching a football game on TV.”
Netflix moves beyond shows
Netflix has yet again showcased how it wants to topple the traditional viewing or popularly known as the Window system for movies. The online-video streaming service has also taken on the traditional television business in the same way by streaming TV shows soon after they are broadcast on traditional networks. Also the company has expanded its expertise in making original content such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
Rich Greenfield, a media analyst with BTIG Research, said that the only way to contain the dominance of Window system, which has become the lynch-pin business model of the movie industry versus what consumers want, is through an outsider. Greenfield added that the company has changed the TV business in a significant way and is now targeting the movie business.
However, it is not going to be as simple as it sounds in the case of getting a breakthrough in the film space. The film, which will be called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Destiny, is a production of the Weinstein Company, which is not a very big production house, so the budget is not huge.
