Amblin Partners and Netflix have forged a partnership, one that will see the company headed by Steven Spielberg produce multiple new feature films for the streaming service every year.
The move is surprising and a sign of the major changes taking place in Hollywood, in part because Spielberg has previously been seen as something of a Netflix skeptic.
That likely won’t include his next movie, an untitled, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story with Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams, which is expected to land at Universal.
The Netflix movies do not have any budgetary or genre requirements attached to them.
Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber, head of original films at Netflix, who previously worked closely with Spielberg when he was an executive at Universal, played key roles in hammering out the deal.
Amblin produced “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which was originally set up at Paramount before being sold to Netflix during COVID.
In this atmosphere, directors like Spike Lee have set up shop at the streaming service after studios balked at their movies’ budgets, while David Fincher recently signed a multi-year deal with the company.
For his part, Stuber stated, “Amblin and Steven Spielberg are synonymous with incredible entertainment.