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During a earnings video call last month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sat on his couch with his arms crossed and casually mentioned that, oh, by the way, among the many ambitions of company, he also wants to dethrone Disney from its long-standing global position. leader of animation.
“We’re very excited to catch them in family entertainment,” Hastings said. “Maybe finally pass them. We’ll see.”
Netflix today announced its biggest step forward in the dream of beating Disney at what it does best. The company acquired the rights to the 22 books of Redwall, the award-winning fantasy children’s series from English writer Brian Jacques about the adventures of a group of anthropomorphic animals. Netflix will produce an animated film based on the first book in the series, as well as an “event series” (also animated) about the character of Martin the Warrior, a heroic mouse.
Published from 1986 until Jacques’ death in 2011, Redwall sold over 30 million copies and translated into 20 languages, captivating generations of children around the world. It has long surpassed wishlists to be adapted into a big budget Hollywood movie or TV series, and now Netflix is going to give it a try.
The news comes as Netflix is rapidly expanding its still nascent animation unit to cut off Disney’s lead in space. He now plans to release six animated films per year, far more than the two that major Disney animation studios (Pixar and Walt Disney Animation) release each year.
For a company mainly active in the field of growing global subscriptions, animation helps to retain families. One way to increase the chances that households will not only turn into Netflix households, but the rest as well, is to offer content that appeals to everyone in that household, especially when subscription prices rise. Netflix said its data shows children watch the same animated movies over and over.
The genre also represents a chance to undermine the growth of Disney streaming globally. Disney has been producing animated films since the 1930s and has remained a heavyweight in space, steadily surpassing the box office with films like Frozen, and Toy story. In 2019, two of the three highest grossing films in the world, Frozen II and the Lion King remake, were Disney animated films. While other challengers have emerged in recent decades, no other studio has seriously dented Disney’s dominance of animation. Disney bought the only studio that came close – Pixar.
Developing a robust animation slate could therefore help Netflix meet the challenge of Disney streaming. To a certain extent, this could be a simple show of force – one last hill for Netflix to conquer after proving it is capable of doing just about anywhere else.
In addition to making more animated originals, Netflix is strengthening its roster of licensed animated titles. Last year, it acquired the international rights to 21 films from Studio Ghibli, the famous Japanese animation studio responsible for Abducted as if by magic and Princess mononoke. (In the US, Studio Ghibli’s catalog is available on HBO Max.) Netflix is also developing a number of animated co-productions with other studios, including the stop-motion horror comedy. Wendell and Wild, co-written by and with Jordan Peele.
Netflix recognizes that dethroning Disney won’t happen overnight, if ever. “It’s going to take a while,” Hastings told The Hollywood Reporter. “I mean, they’re really good at it.” But that the company intends for this to happen is another clear sign of its boundless ambition.
Meanwhile, yesterday Disney shut down Blue Sky Studios, the animation studio that made the Ice Age and Rio film series, and one of the latest vestiges of its 2019 acquisition of Fox’s entertainment empire. Citing the financial pressure caused by the pandemic, Disney no longer has the desire (or the means) to operate a third animation division. According to Deadline, Disney will absorb the remaining intellectual property from Blue Sky (and help place some of its employees in the company’s other studios) – perhaps to prevent Netflix from doing so.
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