Yesterday (Monday 8th July) it was announced that the Dwayne Johnson action movie Red Notice has moved from Universal to Netflix.
It’s a disappointing shock, but not a massive surprise and actually understandable.
The reason because by going to Netflix, everyone (who has the streaming service) will be able to enjoy this in the comfort of their own home. Not to add Universal will have saved money by not having to pay for production, marketing, reshoots etc and worry about trying to make a profit.
This announcement also comes off the heels that Netflix wasn’t going to focus on big action movies following the apparent disappointment of Triple Frontier, forgetting they’ll be releasing a Michael Bay-directed, Ryan Reynolds led movie.
Additionally, it was announced that Reynolds will be joining the cast that includes Johnson and Gal Gadot.
In a statement, Johnson said, “With ‘Red Notice,’ our goal at Seven Bucks Productions was to break down traditional barriers and create a true global event for the audience. Netflix has illustrated that they are the perfect partners to accomplish this goal.”
This is all well and good, but are you honestly believing no other major Hollywood studio wasn’t interested in a Johnson-led action movie starring Deadpool’s Reynolds and Wonder Woman Gadot??
I can understand Universal not being interested anymore, even though they won the bidding war following the success of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, because the last time the studio, Johnson and this film’s director Rawson Marshall Thurber worked together was on Skyscraper.
The film was a major flop in the US box office last year making just over $68 million on a $125 million budget.
On the other hand, to say no studio wasn’t interested is disappointing because by the sound of the premise, Interpol agent (Johnson) is tasked with capturing the most-wanted art thief in the world, it could’ve been a nice potential earner of them.
I would’ve thought due to The Rock and Gadot’s relationship with Warner Bros could’ve been released under their sister studio New Line Cinema. Elsewhere, it could’ve been something Sony could’ve added to their release schedule or at a second-tier studio like Lionsgate or eOne.
Especially if this is, and it should be, has a production budget of under $100 million.
So the question is if studios weren’t convinced that this original idea wouldn’t make them money. Will any original movie, especially action, have a chance to being a box office success?
I’m looking forward to this film and I do hope Netflix has a big-screen release because I got a feeling it will be BIG in blowing up, punching, car chases and I’m sure with all three of these actors will bring the comedy.
The Bear Cave 