“Adam Sandler’s back and Netflix got him!”
--P.J. Bednarski, MediaPost
There, I said it. You may have heard by now that Netflix, the
purveyor of such quality productions as “House of Cards” and “Orange Is The New Black” and...some other stuff... has signed Adam Sandler to make four movies exclusively for them.
That’s right! As Entertainment Weekly points out, “Notably, there will be no studio middleman facilitating the deal, and the films will bypass a theatrical run.”
News of which must make some theater owners exclaim, “Thank God!”
The fact is Adam Sandler, a gross out comedy pioneer, has not been grossing very much for a
long time now. Among the comics who enjoy riches in part because of flatulence and burp jokes, he’s yesterday’s ewwws. We know that because theaters and studios have a way of
reporting box office receipts, however suspect the profit-loss statements may be.
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With Netflix, the audience-counters have not much to do. There’s no reliable (and only a
couple tentative) estimates about how many people have seen “House of Cards,” for example.
Netflix’s press release says Sandler is “among the few
actors in the world whose films consistently rank among the most viewed by Netflix members in the U.S. and across its global territories from Brazil to the U.K.”
That’s
the world we live in.
“People love Adams films on Netflix and often watch them again and again. His appeal spans across viewers of all ages -- everybody has a favorite movie,
everyone has a favorite line -- not just in the U.S. but all over the world,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, in Netflix’s official release.
But I get
the impression Netflix will be paying for this in the media. Until today, every mention of Netflix seems accompanied by reference to “House of Cards” and Kevin Spacey, a reputable, noted,
esteemed, award-winning actor who now speechifies about the future of media.
Even to the media, as recently as Monday. As reported on
TheDrum.com, “In a speech that was funny and impassioned, Spacey discussed the direction that content creation was taking for media companies and advertisers, adding that technology would enable
viewers to decide for themselves what path characters and stories could take.”
Now contrast that with the tone of Sandler’s own canned comments about the Netflix deal:
“When these fine people came to me with an offer to make four movies for them, I immediately said yes for one reason and one reason only. Netflix rhymes with Wet Chicks. Let the streaming
begin!!!!”
CBS used to call itself “The Tiffany of the Networks” and then it scheduled things like “The Dukes fo Hazzard” and had its gemology thrown
back in their face, hard. From an image standpoint, I can’t believe Netflix isn’t headed for the same treatment.
But from another standpoint, the deal begins to establish
Netflix as something of a studio itself, able to greenlight movies and make multi-movie deals. That gives it even more clout with stars and creative types in Hollywood, but also may be causing a lot
of B-listers to get all excited about tagging along on Sandler’s good fortune. How long until the Jim Belushi film festival?
pj@mediapost.com