Netflix Hit With Industry Backlash Over New Movie Deals

Netflix and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions recently made a surprise announcement: that the video streaming service would partner in creating four new Sandler movies that will launch on Netflix exclusively. This immediately followed a similar announcement that Netflix will be making a second Crouching Tiger movie, launching it online at the same time as in IMAX theaters. Such moves were bound to happen and give consumers more control over their entertainment, but as expected, both have received substantial backlash from industry staples balking at the budding shift in how theatrical entertainment takes place.The Hollywood Reporter says sources have told it Warner Bros. has dropped talks about producing Sandler's Western comedy The Ridiculous Six. The reason partly surrounds the deal with Netflix, though one source says the decision only merely coincided with the Netflix deal, but wasn't a direct result of it.

The sources say, among other things, that Sandler made a call himself to both Warner Bros. and Sony to let them know about his milestone partnership with Netflix, but that there wasn't much warning that it was coming, and the deal poses issues for studios on more than just the business level.

These troubles only hint at the wider issues the Netflix deal has caused, with theaters having threatened to boycott any film that will launch on Netflix before or at the same time as cinemas. Regal Cinemas is one such company, with the New York Times reporting that it said it won't "participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to three inches wide on a smartphone."

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter