Jan 20, 2021

Reed Hastings Reaffirms Netflix's goal to challenge Disney for Animation supremacy

Everyone is talking about Netflix's strong quarterly report - shares shot 587% today to a record high of 17% - but for us, the most important part of yesterday's earnings call was focused on the company's continued animation.

Reed Hastings, co・founder, Chairman, and co・CEO of Netflix, has repeatedly emphasized that streamers are not only committed to animation, but also looking to catch up with the Walt Disney Company, the most successful animation producer of our time. "We're very excited to catch them with family animations, and we might eventually pass them on," Hastings said."

In today's earnings call, Netflix Chairman/co-CEO Reed Hastings said that defeating Disney with animation is a long-term goal. Specifically stated: "We are very fired about catching them in the family animation, perhaps finally pass them, we will see." A long way to go just to catch them."pic.twitter.com/wkXithccJG

-cartoonbrew.com –Animation News (@cartoonbrew) 2021/1/20

Well, it can be said that this is only a bragging statement from executives intended to please investors, but not this marks the second time in recent months that Hastings has not raised animation as an area of focus for the company. Click on the link. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, he made the same bold claim that he wants to "beat" Disney with family animation. Even more prominently, he suggested that they would compete for the dominance of animation over the next half century:

We want to beat Disney with family animation. It will take a while. I mean, they are really good at it. We are both very focused on building an animation group and it is a friendly competition. We both want to make an incredible story for consumers and want to be able to raise the bar in that area. We know they will be challengers and competitors for the next 50 years.

To date, Netflix has released three original animation features: Klaus, Willoughby and Over the Moon, and despite the strong qualities of each film, no one but here's a caveat: Netflix is still in the process of strengthening its animation division. Animation is a notoriously slow art form, and each film takes about four to eight years from concept to release. It's up to next year to realistically understand what Netflix is trying to achieve with its animation program, with its outlined goal of releasing 6 original features a year.

Netflix's original feature animation output remains a mystery for now, but Hastings's remarks also hope to "catch up" with Disney. What does catch-up mean - countless others have tried to make Disney and Pixar-style movies over the years, but they all failed, just because Disney and Pixar have perfected the style of their homes and are doing better than anyone else. But there is another path, and it is to offer the audience something original, something that can not be confused as a Disney movie. Tellingly, two non-Disney films that have won an Oscar in the past 10 years - Spider-Man: Spider-Man in Poetry and Rango - have proposed an impressive alternative to the well-worn rhythms and beats of Disney products. By the way, when Pixar made its first feature, "Toy Story," the film was also a condemnation of Disney's standards.

Netflix seems to understand this – to beat Disney, you can't be Disney. Their upcoming slate was directed by auteurs who have a track record of defying the conventional, bold and different-sounding projects that differ from the typical animated fare These include films like Richard Linklater Apollo 10 1/2: Adventures in the Space Age, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Norah O'Donnell and more. Twomey my father's dragon, please

Netflix at the moment remains an epic experiment with undecided results. The sheer number of films the company is about to release gives them the freedom to poke the edge of the art form and, crucially, to fail. It is important to remember that Disney is not Disney today without its own share of failures. Not long before the release of Pinocchio, Walt Disney said, "I'd rather have an artistic flop than a box office blockbuster.""He got his wish not only with Pinocchio, but also with its follow-up, Fantasia. Both films were creative victories that failed at the box office.

The failure of any of these films may have been enough for modern film studios to pull back the animation department. But Disney has seen the game for a long time – he has to continuously invest in animation and continue experimenting to achieve a real advantage in the medium.Initially, Netflix seems to share this same long-term vision, which portends Hastings's vision of challenging Disney.