Netflix’s film chief, Scott Stuber, acknowledged that the streaming service had been producing too many poorly received original movies and plans to scale back its film division moving forward. Stuber defended the previous goal of mass-producing movies in order to compete with major studios, but admitted that this approach led to a mix of critical and commercial failures. In response, Netflix intends to decrease original film output by almost half, releasing only 25 to 30 films annually, focusing on quality over quantity. Stuber emphasized that this change reflects Netflix’s commitment to producing content it believes in, rather than setting a fixed number of releases. The move comes after Netflix faced criticism for its quantity-over-quality approach to movie making and a string of high-budget misfires, which included several big-name films that failed to live up to expectations. Despite this, some Netflix Originals have been well-received, and the company hopes to improve its track record with a focus on more quality film production in the future.
