Netflix’s new fantasy universe is over $1 billion and the next 4 films are finally ready

$1 billion, $600 million. These are the unimaginable sums that Netflix has shelled out in recent years to buy the rights to Roald Dahl’s fantasy and fairy tale stories. But what has happened so far? has become a much-heralded fantasy offensive? There was already an answer at the Venice Film Festival: Wes Anderson’s I See Something You Don’t See and 3 other films. Furthermore, many question marks remain.

Why Netflix spends so much money on Roald Dahl stories

Netflix and Amazon are missing a Harry Potter, a Star Wars, a Percy Jackson. In order not to lose subscribers to Disney+ or others in the long term, streaming services have to produce alternatives. Amazon shelled out $250 million for the Tolkien rights. At Netflix, the works of the writer Roald Dahl will serve as a basis. Dahl’s stories have entertained millions of children and adults over the decades and especially in competition with Disney+, a strong children’s program can’t hurt.

That’s why Netflix should have one in 2018 raised a nine-figure sum for the rights to 16 works by the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. According to the industry publication Hollywood Reporter, these include:

The The budget for the planned productions at that time was up to 1 billion appreciated (Guardian). The next deal followed in 2021: Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company for around $620 million, as Sky News reported at the time. This opens the doors to the streaming service for adaptations, spin-offs and much more from the world of the writer, who died in 1990.

The fantasy yield from the Netflix deals has been meager so far

It has now been 5 years since the first dried signature. At the time of this article, Roald Dahl fans can only watch one production on Netflix that resulted from the contracts: Roald Dahl’s Matilda – The Musical, released in 2022.

Among the first projects announced were two animated series from Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waititi, each set to be set in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory universe. A series adaptation of The Twits was also commissioned.

Since then, Netflix’s situation has changed drastically. Cost savings are a priority. The streaming service’s animation division was restructured last year. The Twits series has been canceled, a film will be produced in its place (via Vulture ). News about Waititi’s projects is scarce, as are other big announcements from the Roald Dahl catalog.

Wes Anderson made 4 short films for Netflix

Which brings us back to Wes Anderson, a filmmaker not usually mentioned in the same breath as budgets worth hundreds of millions. Anderson has been dreaming of making a film adaptation of the short story collection for 20 years The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, he just struggled with the format (and in between filmed another Dahl story, The Fantastic Mr. Fox).

At Netflix he found what he thought was the ideal format, as he revealed to IndieWire. He made four short films with stars such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes and Dev Patel. They will be published this month:

In the first film, player Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) learns about a man who can see without opening his eyes (Ben Kingsley). From now on, Henry wants to use the method to make a fortune in the casino. And if the fantasy offensive is a bad investment?

Even in just under 40 minutes, Anderson builds his world that is alienated from reality and captivates you until you no longer think about the approaching end. After Asteroid City, he moves into a studio world of small rooms that hide amazing things. A classic Wes Andersonwhich whizzes through the dialogues at a pace as if the director had recorded the whole thing at 1.5x speed.

The other three films were unfortunately withheld from the Venice audience, but one thing seems pretty certain after the huge sums and changes in strategy: Even if Netflix’s Roald Dahl shopping spree turns out to be a disastrous bad investment – for the film fan of the world it was worth it because of the Anderson films.

All signs for the future of the streaming service point in a different direction. When the changes in the animation department became known in April 2022, one detail emerged. Netflix wants to focus on projects that achieve the same number of views as The Boss Baby. So let’s enjoy the dream come true of Wes Anderson while we can.