Ben Affleck – who knows a thing or two about flops, given his latest streaming movie Deep water — threw shade at Netflix for prioritizing quantity over quality in their original films.
Yesterday (Nov. 30), the justice league Actor participated in a Q&A at the New York Times DealBook Summit, where he claimed his new studio Artist Equity — where he serves as CEO alongside Matt Damon as CCO — will focus on making “good” films that “people remember 20 years later.” meeting reports.
To further clarify his point, he brought up the CEO of Netflix. Affleck said, “If you ask Reed Hastings… I’m sure there’s some risk in that and I’m sure they had a great strategy, but I would have said, ‘How are we going to make 50 great movies?! How is that possible?'”
He continued: “There is no committee big enough. There isn’t enough – you just can’t do it. It’s a thing that requires attention, dedication and work and defies the assembly line process.”
And Affleck, sadly, isn’t far from the truth. It was announced back in May that Netflix would do so release 80 original films in 2022 while a list on Wikipedia reveals that the streamer has 175 films planned for this year (16 awaiting release), not including documentaries.
This list ranged from well-received titles such as the swimmers, Hurry and The good nurseto others with poor reception, like the bubble, slumberland and spider head. However, Much of the list falls comfortably in the middle (according to results collected by Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes), with divisive titles like Blond, The gray man and The happiest girl in the world.
Affleck said his company will balance demand with integrity of creativity, and said he understands there’s a “larger audience for action movies than there is for small dramas.” He explained: “Certain genres are playing more broadly and you have to remember that. But let’s make a good one, let’s surprise the audience, let’s make them care.”
Echoing his thoughts, his investment partner Gerry Cardinale teased, “The first wave of streaming was about volume. The second wave is about quality.”
Affleck and Damon’s Artist Equity are hoping to release three projects in 2023, including a sports drama about the making of the Air Jordans, which will be directed by Affleck and star Damon, Viola Davis and Jason Bateman. The currently untitled strip is scheduled to be released on Prime Video.
With all the big talk, let’s hope it’s a hit!