Netflix, Bypassing Hollywood, Likely Won't Have an Iconic Film, TDG Analyst Says

Netflix in the U.S. is no longer focused on shifting viewing to online, but cares more about making hit content, since the over-the-top wave "has already crested and is no longer a source of growth," The Diffusion Group's Joel Espelien blogged Tuesday. Pointing to lukewarm reviews of the service's $60 million original movie War Machine, starring Brad Pitt, he said there's no precedent for what kind of subscriber and market reactions to expect "when a big budget Netflix original inevitably bombs." The post said Netflix's move from licensing content to producing its own is logical, but it carries challenges. Less than half of U.S. households are Netflix subscribers, meaning a big segment of the population is "essentially shut out of the conversation" about the over-the-top service's content, Espelien said: That makes it "highly unlikely that such a movie could ever attain iconic status," especially since straight-to-app movies lose the benefit of the communal audience response that comes from going to a theater.