Netflix revolutionized the film industry, giving people thousands of movies from a touch of a button. Their popularity only grew as they expanded their content, creating their own original films and TV series. This made Netflix the biggest name in town and their content reflected it, licensing the biggest movies from the most powerful studios. Now with many companies, like Disney, creating their own streaming platforms and essentially beginning ‘the streaming wars’, it looks like Netflix is taking a hit.
Netflix released its full list of new and expiring titles for June 2020, adding big name movies like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Silence of the Lambs, and Twister, but for the first time in their history, they are losing more movies than they are adding. Whether this becomes a new trend is to be seen, but this is a concerning sign for the company.
Netflix didn’t provide a reason for the loss of content, but it’s not hard to figure it own on your own. For example, Netflix is losing all of the movies in The Matrix trilogy to HBO Max, where they are expected to be available for its May 27 launch. It is not hard to figure out that the existing deal allowing the series on Netflix wasn’t renewed by Warner Bros, meaning they were able to become HBO Max exclusives. Disney films have been disappearing from the site as well as they all slowly make their way to Disney +, including Avengers: Infinity War, which also leaves Netflix in June.
As more studios make deals with specific streaming companies, typically most studios license their films by a title by title basis instead of committing all of their content to one place, it is more likely that Netflix loses more and more titles. This makes you wonder if they will continue to go all in on their original content, as it may become the only way they continue to find success in the constantly evolving entertainment industry.