In an attempt to maintain its position at the front of the streaming pack, Netflix has its fingers in an awful lot of contractual piece, but it’s just plunged a fist into the one it currently shares with Constantin Film.
Per Deadline, the duo have entered into “an exclusive long-term partnership for Constantin’s theatrical releases in German-speaking Europe.” That may sound fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but it should also be noted that the company does have specialty for lending its name to a string of tedious and terrible blockbusters.
Previous releases include Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil franchise along with the filmmaker’s The Three Musketeers, Pompeii and Monster Hunter, as well as Tim Story’s Fantastic Four duology from the mid-2000s and Josh Trank’s infamous reboot, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and Mads Mikkelsen’s Polar to name but a small few.
Netflix is making a “significant” contribution to Constantin’s German-language productions, too, which will then be streamed exclusively on the platform within a year of their theatrical releases, with the streamer also having gained access to the back catalogue for good measure.
There’s no word on how or if the Hollywood side of the equation factors in, but the last thing Netflix needs is more relentlessly uninteresting genre fare bloating the content library to even more manageable proportions. Constantin has made plenty of great stuff over the years, but anytime it dips its hands into the big budget or effects-heavy cookie jar things start to go awry, so the jury is out on how the long-term ramifications will play out for both parties and subscribers around the world.