Netflix has revealed its intentions to develop original series and movies in the style of successful franchises like Star Wars and Harry Potter. “We want to have our version of Star Wars or our version of Harry Potter, and we’re working very hard to build that,” Netflix vice president Matthew Thunell was quoted as saying in a report by Reuters (opens in new tab), which suggests the streamer is aiming to create franchises that “traverse film, television, games and consumer products.”
Thunell was quoted as saying, “We want to have our version of Star Wars or our version of Harry Potter.” Thunell, however, stressed the importance of exercising prudence and said, “But those are not formed overnight.” Netflix’s cross-media approach – it has now hired in-house book scouts to snap up adaptations and has also established a video game division – aims to be similarly wide-reaching. Despite the fact that Netflix is not planning to exactly replicate a galaxy far, far away and the Wizarding World in terms of genre, the company does intend to take a cross-media approach. However, not every idea has the potential to become a successful franchise. “It is necessary, to begin with, the narrative in its entirety.
Does it have the capacity for that type of growth?” Thunell stated. “There are some series like Stranger Things that are wildly successful, that do have the depth of mythology, and additional stories that allow you to move into animation or features or anime,” said the author. “These series have the depth of mythology, and additional stories that allow you to move into those mediums.” Therefore, it would appear that Stranger Things is the prime example of Netflix’s new all-encompassing strategy. Although season 5 of Stranger Things will be the show’s last instalment, the events of the tale won’t wrap up there. The Duffer Brothers, who are responsible for creating the programme Stranger Things, recently revealed in an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast(opens in a new tab) that they had ideas for a possible spin-off that will be “one thousand times different” from the original.
Ross Duffer gave the following interview to SFX Magazine regarding the spin-offs: “The most important thing for us is that it should have the impression that it is its own unique thing, and not that we are simply repeating what we have already accomplished, because that would defeat the purpose of doing so. I do believe that we are working on something that has the potential to be quite exciting. So we’ll see…” The action film The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas, will become accessible on Netflix on July 22. The film will be available for streaming on that day.