All eyes are on Netflix‘s One Piece adaptation as the live-action iteration of the Straw Hats’ journey to the Grand Line continues to soar in all the right ways, and if Netflix continues to play its cards right, this is one show that could end up being so much more than Mackenyu‘s redemption arc.
Meanwhile, the Venice International Film Festival has been something of a landing zone for many an upcoming Netflix original, such as The Killer, whose director may or may not harbor complicated feelings about five-minute standing ovations (which, in fairness, can apparently be good or bad depending on if you’re a Top Gun film or an Indiana Jones one), and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – the Wes Anderson-masterminded short film that will kick off a series of Netflix-exclusive Roald Dahl adaptations from the filmmaker due later this month.
And — not to be left behind on any entertainment trend — Netflix has opted to leap onto the sex comedy train with two feet, and the results have at least paid off for the suits.
Eclipsing Netflix royalty during your opening weekend should guarantee a season 2, but stranger things have happened
If you told us six months ago that an in-house live-action anime adaptation would go on to join the Netflix ranks occupied by shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday, you probably would have gotten laughed out of the room. But — lo and behold — One Piece has done exactly that, with the Iñaki Godoy-led fantasy series having won the hearts of critics and audiences alike and made its mark on the charts in the biggest way possible to boot.
Indeed, One Piece‘s opening weekend has seen the show top Netflix’s television charts in 84 different countries; a better showing than the first season of both Stranger Things and Wednesday when they first made their rounds on the streamer. If that kind of success isn’t enough to lock One Piece in for a second season, we don’t know what is.
People seem to be liking The Killer, and we have no idea how David Fincher feels about it
The Killer — David Fincher‘s upcoming Netflix original due on the streamer November 10 — seems to have all the momentum it needs after its debut at the Venice International Film Festival gifted it a five-minute standing ovation and a 90 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes after 21 reviews. Surely Fincher must be beaming with pride, right?
Apparently, not necessarily; during the ovation, the filmmaker was reportedly spotted shifting around in his seat and muttering uncomfortably, waving his arms around before haphazardly hurrying out of the theater.
We doubt a three-time Academy Award for Best Director nominee would be vulnerable to stage fright or bashful over the fact that people like his movie, so this reaction is a very odd one indeed.
The vanguard to Wes Anderson’s four-day Netflix campaign sets a fine example at Venice
Speaking of the Venice International Film Festival, Wes Anderson will certainly be happy with his entry, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which, like its fellow aforementioned Netflix original, has been met with critical acclaim ahead of its debut on the streamer.
But Henry Sugar is just the first of four short films based on Roald Dahl works that Anderson has in the oven, with The Swan, The Ratcatcher, and Poison set to be released to Netflix one at a time over the course of September 27-30. Here’s hoping, then, that that Anderson magic extends to Henry Sugar‘s companion pieces as well.
With One Piece‘s high-flying success, Mackenyu’s luck with live-action anime adaptations released in 2023 has broken even
The talent behind One Piece‘s live-action Straw Hat crew have all pulled their weight spectacularly, and Mackenyu — who portrays swordsman Roronoa Zoro in the series — is no exception; the Japanese actor is no stranger to shoring up the ranks of live-action anime adaptations, but One Piece could prove to be his greatest boon yet.
And the timing couldn’t have been better, seeing as the 26-year-old recently starred in Knights of the Zodiac — a live-action film adaptation of popular manga Saint Seiya — whose woeful critic scores paired rather appropriately with its dire performance at the box office this past spring.
But that’s all a thing of the past now, and Mackenyu can instead look forward to what will hopefully be many more fruitful adventures as Zoro, provided Netflix doesn’t feed the show a Devil Fruit before throwing it into the ocean.
Netflix remembers that sex sells, instantly sees returns on its latest raunchfest
When digging into the higher echelons of the Netflix charts, you’ll typically come across toothless action thrillers, disturbing true crime shows, or a steamy love story.
Happy Ending falls into the latter of those three designations, with the Dutch film about a perfect relationship threatened by fake orgasms cementing itself as the fifth-most watched movie on the streamer worldwide, boasting a Top 10 presence in 58 different countries.
At the time of writing, it remains to be seen what the critical consensus is on Netflix’s latest moneymaker, but that’s hardly ever been a defining factor in viewership success anyway.