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Icarus netflix5/30/2023 ![]() So… why did Netflix pass on the sequel? After all, Netflix is all about serving members more of what they have already watched, and we’re in a heyday of sorts for documentary series sequels like the follow-ups to HBO Max’s The Way Down and The Vow, and Netflix’s Tiger King. Sources say the viewership was among the healthiest for non-true-crime documentaries on the service. And that bet paid off, not just in awards and branding but in audience. was investigating whether a cyberattack that crippled the festival that year was related to the fact that Icarus premiered the day before. Netflix bought the film at Sundance in 2017 for a then-hefty $5 million, according to sources, a day after it was reported that the F.B.I. He must have loved winning for Icarus, a truly Important film that, in 2018, made a big statement about Netflix’s prestige push, particularly its status as a fearless global platform for edgy non-fiction content, regardless of who it might piss off.Īfter all, this was a movie that Vladimir Putin and his allies hated, and that helped lead to Russia’s ban from the Olympics. Reed Hastings is a devoted documentary fan I’ve seen him in line for morning doc screenings at Sundance with the regular folks, no handlers or special seating. ![]() All to position Netflix to Hollywood as a prestige outlet, even as lowbrow minute-burners like Purple Hearts and Love Is Blind increasingly define the brand. He doled out millions to buy aggressive lobbyist Lisa Taback’s company, and he often shocks his rivals with the money he spends-buying the billboard company, launching the vanity print magazine, and taking over the movie theaters in voter-heavy neighborhoods like the Palisades, not to mention stunts like those ridiculous waste-of-space Glass Onion mailers that just went out. Ted Sarandos is really obsessed with awards. How big a deal was that internally? Everyone in Hollywood is obsessed with awards (especially those who insist they aren’t), but Netflix co-C.E.O. With Icarus, it finally broke through in a major category. The upstart streamer had spent millions of dollars campaigning for top awards, hoping to translate the Oscar and Emmy halo into brand equity and greater acceptance by the creative community. Remember, back in 2018, when Icarus won the best documentary Oscar for director Bryan Fogel, it was Netflix’s first win for a feature of any kind. What’s interesting is that at Telluride, Netflix chose to buy that movie instead of Icarus: The Aftermath, the enthusiastically-reviewed follow up to the Russia sports doping documentary Icarus, one of the most important movies in the history of Netflix. will overcome the traditional snootiness of the Academy’s 600-person documentary branch, though I doubt it.īut that’s not why I’m mentioning Sr. Inarritu’s Bardo and Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, both flamed out at the festivals.) Maybe the Netflix campaign machine and Downey Jr.’s willingness to promote Sr. (It has Margaret Brown’s slave ship saga Descendant in the doc race and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio in animated feature, but its two big all-category awards films, Alejandro G. ![]() It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September and was acquired by Netflix as a long-shot Oscar play in a year in which the streamer’s awards cupboard is unusually bare. and wife Susan Downey producing, and directed by Tiger King executive producer Chris Smith. is fun and emotional for sure, but it’s a fairly traditional tribute/vanity doc, with Jr. ![]() Have you watched this Netflix documentary about Robert Downey Jr.’s father? Sr. ![]()
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