Creatives are burning with rage over Hollywood’s hottest new trend: streaming platforms’ habit of canceling finished films and TV series before they’ve aired or pulling projects from platforms and shelving them indefinitely.
The Hollywood Reporter has been asking around about the effects of consolidation, budget cuts and tax write-offs kneecapping projects like Batgirl, Snowpiercer, Scoob!: Holiday Haunt and Westworld, among others. It’s happening all over town as entertainment companies have been forced to contend with consolidation, inflation, a possible recession and a constant chase for subscribers.
“It’s been horrifying,” prolific creator Rian Johnson (Glass Onion) tells THR. “The fact that it’s becoming common practice is terrible and adds to the awfulness. In the history of the business, there has been a constant evolution of horrible things.”
Last month, THR reported that two Netflix feature films were up for grabs after the streamer opted not to distribute the films. The films included The Inheritance, directed by Alejandro Brugués and produced by Paul Schiff with a cast that included Bob Gunton, Peyton List, Austin Stowell, Briana Middleton, David Walton and Rachel Nichols, and House/Wife, directed by Danis Goulet and produced by Tripp Vinson and Daniel Bekerman with a cast that includes Alice Braga, Kris Holden-Ried and Sarah Gadon.
Also in February, on the heels of Paramount Global announcing that it was revamping its streaming setup and strategy by bringing Paramount+ and Showtime together, originals Kidding, Super Pumped and American Rust were removed from the Showtime platform. Additional cuts are expected as the company looks to cut costs with one analyst estimating $300 million-400 million in cost savings. More examples are found over at AMC Networks where the company axed second seasons of legal drama 61st Street and sci-fi series Moonhaven while orders were rescinded for Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire.
But Johnson makes a case for optimism: “All you can do as someone who makes stuff is ultimately put your faith in the notion that if you make something, it’s going to find its audience.”
Jerry Bruckheimer agrees: “It’s always about the work, and if the work’s good, it’ll be on the air. That’s how it works. We all have had movies that don’t quite work sometimes, and hopefully the movies that they pull will get out there somewhere, on some platform, in the future.”
This story first appeared in the Feb. 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
