Having laughed in the face of the entire fantasy fandom by claiming he hadn’t canceled a single popular series – despite upwards of 25 episodic hits to have flirted with the Top 10 being binned since the beginning of 2020 – Netflix boss Ted Sarandos is clearly not in the mood to entertain campaigns, movements, and petitions.
Effects-heavy projects that feature plenty of CGI, action sequences, and stunt work will inevitably run up a pretty penny in budgetary terms, but they’re clearly not being canceled because the company is strapped for cash. In fact, Netflix’s piggy bank appears to be in ruder health than ever, especially if the whopping sum of $130 million can be spent on a romantic comedy.
According to Matthew Belloni of Puck, genre legend Nancy Meyers is dipping her toes into the waters of streaming, with her next original project set to rack up such an exorbitant volume of investment. Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender are being lined up to star, which does at least handily explain where all of the money is going.
Plot details remain almost non-existent at this stage, but you’ve got to wonder why on earth a rom-com should come anywhere close to entering nine-figure territory. After all, James L. Brooks’ infamous How do You Know is one of the heftiest box office bombs of all-time, and it just so happened to be set in the same storytelling space with a similar level of star wattage.
Of course, Netflix doesn’t have to worry about such things as ticket sales, but you do have to question who gives the green light to such mind-blowing levels of finance.
