It’s not often that the public agrees with any of the moves that Netflix tends to make, whether it involves password sharing or what’s worth being canceled, renewed, or made in the first place, but it looks like common ground was finally reached in the form of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who seem very much on their own in their quest to satisfy Netflix’s ultimatum.
On the viewing side of things, romance, comedy, and romantic comedy from around the world seem to be the name of the game at the moment; a step up from the world’s serial killer obsession, perhaps, but only just.
Harry & Meghan wasn’t quite enough for Netflix, as it turns out
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle signed the Netflix contract involving their incredibly successful documentary series Harry & Meghan, the pair were set to be paid roughly $103 million, but with the series having wrapped up, it appears that Netflix is withholding half of the total payment until the couple can produce some more worthwhile content for the streamer.
It’s hard to say whether these “great ideas” expected by Netflix will ever make it to our queues (or if they even exist in the first place), and with the pair having yet to respond to the streamer at the time of writing, it’s no dicey guess to say that the couple may have to be satisfied with the $51.5 million.
… and fans are not on the side of the couple
With Harry & Meghan boasting the viewing numbers that it has (the highest debut for a Netflix documentary, with 81.6 million hours viewed in the first four days of its release), one might think that audiences would be quick to back more content involving the couple; one would be wrong.
With their contentious relationship with the British royal family effectively milked for all it’s worth, it falls to Harry and Meghan to find another angle for Netflix content creation if they ever hope to fulfill the aforementioned Netflix deal, and let’s just say that not everybody’s convinced that the duo is interesting enough to pull off such a task.
The Perfect Find — formulaic to a fault — is still the perfect formula for streaming success
What happens when you combine Gabrielle Union, business-as-usual plot beats, and a genre that’s historically found strength in its mediocrity? Relative critical success, and overwhelming viewership success – as it turns out.
Such was the recipe for The Perfect Find, in which Union plays budding beauty journalist Jenna Jones, who falls in love with Keith Powers’ handsome videographer Eric, who also happens to be the son of Jones’ contentious boss Darcy (Gina Torres). Indeed, the only surprise as far as this film is concerned is its impressive 71 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; its presence in Netflix’s Top 10 in 75 different countries, on the other hand, speaks to the uncanny capabilities of the genre more than anything.
It’s not just Netflix’s American-produced content making waves
When you chart near the top of Netflix’s viewership numbers as the sequel to one of the biggest films ever put out by the streamer, one might assume that the film’s name would have a marked place in media discourse, and while that’s not exactly the case for romance film Through My Window: Across the Sea, the numbers don’t lie.
The Spanish-language film managed to reach second place on Netflix’s worldwide rankings after finding success in the top 10 in 87 different countries, doing its predecessor Through My Window proud – even if there wasn’t much to live up to from a critical standpoint (as seems to be customary for films in this vein).
Glamorous arrives to rake up even more viewing hours, but not much else
Glamorous is — by all accounts — the type of show one wants to cheer for, given its heartwarming ethos permeating its message of self-love, and while ambition alone isn’t always enough to fill the shoes you may want to wear, it can still be enough to grab the attention of eager viewers who eat this sort of thing up.
Indeed, nothing quite overshadows a 56 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes like appearing on Netflix’s top 10 list in 70 different countries, and that just happens to be the state of affairs surrounding young Marco’s venture into the makeup and beauty industry; time will tell if he’ll be back for round two.