{"id":4976,"date":"2025-03-23T01:57:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T05:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/03\/23\/netflixs-electric-state-is-no-hit-but-the-streamer-doesnt-mind\/"},"modified":"2025-03-23T01:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T05:57:19","slug":"netflixs-electric-state-is-no-hit-but-the-streamer-doesnt-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/03\/23\/netflixs-electric-state-is-no-hit-but-the-streamer-doesnt-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s \u2018Electric State\u2019 Is No Hit, but the Streamer Doesn\u2019t Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Netflix spent over $275 million to make \u201cThe Electric State,\u201d a sci-fi action adventure film starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt and a slew of sentient robots. Had it opened in theaters, instead of on its service as it did on March 14, the film would almost certainly be declared a giant disappointment.<\/p>\n

Reviews have been dismal. And though the movie debuted at No. 1 on the streaming giant\u2019s weekly chart of most-watched movies, it had far fewer views (25.2 million) than other expensive features, including \u201cThe Gray Man\u201d (41.2 million), which was made by the same directors, the brothers Joe and Anthony Russo.<\/p>\n

But there was little hand-wringing inside Netflix this week. No marketing chief was blamed. No production executive packed up her office.<\/p>\n

Instead, the movie demonstrates how different Netflix is from the traditional studios \u2014 and how easily the company can spend so much for a middling result without Wall Street\u2019s noticing. (Its stock is up slightly this week.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Truth is, no one piece of content moves the needle at Netflix in either direction. \u201cSquid Game 2\u201d was the most-watched title in the company\u2019s most recent engagement report, with 87 million views, but it accounted for only 0.7 percent of total viewing. Rather, the $18 billion that the company spends each year on movies and shows is meant to reach a worldwide audience with different tastes and interests. The budget for \u201cThe Electric State\u201d represents 1.5 percent of what the company will spend on content this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s comical to me that Hollywood and the press obsess over Netflix\u2019s mistakes while they have one of the most viral global hits in \u2018Adolescence\u2019 right now at a nothing budget,\u201d said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Lightshed Partners. He was referring to a distressing \u2014 and zeitgeisty \u2014 four-part series about a teenage boy accused of murder that has generated 24.3 million views.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about a portfolio approach to content,\u201d Mr. Greenfield added.<\/p>\n

Both Netflix and the Russo brothers declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n

Supposedly, quality is now king at Netflix. \u201cWith more than 700 million people watching, we can\u2019t just be one thing. We need to be the best version of everything,\u201d Bela Bajaria, Netflix\u2019s chief content officer, said at an event in January showcasing the company\u2019s 2025 lineup.<\/p>\n

And more recently, she said that she\u2019d greenlight \u201cThe Electric State\u201d all over again. (Among reviewers, the film has a 15 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Among the public, it has a 73 percent positive rating.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Netflix acquired \u201cThe Electric State\u201d in 2022 after Universal balked at the reported $200 million price tag. Those costs ballooned in part because of the amount of special effects involved and the extensive upfront bonuses paid to the film\u2019s stars and directors.<\/p>\n

That kind of spending on a big-budget, little-known piece of intellectual property may be more rare in Netflix\u2019s future. The company\u2019s new film chief, Dan Lin, is cutting costs where he can, though still spending lavishly on highly coveted projects. He plunked down a healthy chunk for Greta Gerwig\u2019s upcoming \u201cNarnia\u201d and tried to land Emerald Fennell\u2019s adaptation of \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d by offering $150 million. (He lost out to Warner Bros., which offered to give the film, starring Margot Robbie, a wide theatrical release.)<\/p>\n

Netflix is still doing plenty of business with the Russo brothers, too. Over the years, the pair have given the company some of its biggest hits, including \u201cGray Man\u201d and the \u201cExtraction\u201d franchise. The Russos\u2019 production company, AGBO, is set to begin filming \u201cThe Whisper Man,\u201d a crime thriller starring Robert De Niro, Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan, this year, and an \u201cExtraction\u201d television series is also in the works. (They are also responsible for Disney\u2019s high-grossing \u201cAvengers\u201d films and are lined up to direct the next two.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Electric State\u201d hit the streaming service just as Hollywood seems to be undergoing an identity crisis. Moviegoers say they want original ideas. But the public keeps rejecting them. Last week, two original stories \u2014 \u201cNovocaine,\u201d starring Jack Quaid, and \u201cBlack Bag,\u201d starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender \u2014 headlined the slowest moviegoing weekend of 2025.<\/p>\n

Even franchise fare like \u201cCaptain America: Brave New World\u201d and \u201cPaddington in Peru\u201d isn\u2019t matching the grosses of its predecessors. Hollywood was hopeful that 2025 would be the year the box office would come roaring back to its prepandemic levels, but so far it\u2019s trailing 2024 by 5 percent and 2019 by 38 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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Peter Newman, a film producer and professor at New York University\u2019s Tisch School of the Arts, said \u201cThe Electric State\u201d and Netflix\u2019s approach to content relied more on analytics than overall taste, a factor that contributed to the disparity between the critics\u2019 reviews and the audience reception of the movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne could make the case that they have dumbed down the audience to such an extent that that\u2019s what they want,\u201d Mr. Newman said. \u201cMaybe they want McDonald\u2019s instead of Peter Luger.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix spent over $275 million to make \u201cThe Electric State,\u201d a sci-fi action adventure film starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt and a slew of sentient robots. Had it opened in theaters, instead of on its service as it did on March 14, the film would almost certainly be declared a giant disappointment. Reviews have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}