Netflix Queues Up Movie

Are you ready for Netflix: The Movie? The DVD rental giant next month will begin screening its edgy, brand-sponsored film A Million in the Morning. The 70-minute mockumentary starring Vice magazine founder Gavin McInnes details a five-day movie-watching marathon. Press and influencer screening parties will begin next month in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Other consumers will be able to view the movie in October at Netflix.com as part of its “Watch Instantly” program. The project blossomed out of last year’s Netflix Movie Watching Championships. Last October, contestants sat in a Plexiglas box in Times Square with the goal of claiming the Guinness World Record for most consecutive hours watching movies. Suresh Joachim and Claudia Wavra won after having watched 57 movies continuously for 123 hours and 10 minutes. The final film, Thelma and Louise, was presented by Susan Sarandon.Netflix planned a series of Webisodes around the event with the help of the creative agency/record label Decon. However, it realized that footage of people watching movies isn’t the most compelling content. To spice things up it reached out to McInnes to host the event acting as a fake news reporter. After not sleeping during the two days straight filming, he decided “fuck it, I’ll stay up the entire time,” which he did, said Peter Bittenbender, CEO, Decon. “It’s really interesting to see what happens to a human being after they haven’t slept for six days.”What ensued was fart and boner jokes. Other scenes include a pantsless McInnes interviewing the Naked Cowboy and a terrorized Richard Simmons who refused to sample McInnes’ energy drink concoction. “Once we saw the footage we thought, ‘We have a lot more than just some Webisodes here,’” said Bittenbender. “We sent it to Netflix, and they loved it. It’s very subversive for them.” Decon recording artist Jay Electronica is providing the theme music.Netflix rep Chris Garrity said the company is still in the process of taking a look at the final edit. But, he noted, for it to succeed online, “it has to have an edge.”The project is a one-off. Netflix has already entered and exited the independent film business. Last July, it announced it was shuttering its three-year-old Red Envelope Entertainment division. The former acquisitions and financing department played a part in the release of Penelope Cruz’ Elegy, the Oscar-nominated documentary No End in Sight and other films.The reason for abandoning its indie film experiment? Netflix was concerned about competing against the studios that produce the movies it distributes. “We’re not a content producer. We’re no longer doing that. We’re a distributor,” said Garrity. “This was more that Decon had a great idea, and we wanted to give it life.”Netflix doesn’t necessarily need to dabble in new businesses—its core business is doing fine. The company exceeded its second-quarter earnings expectations with $408.5 million in revenue—a 21 percent year-over-year increase. The service’s customer base grew 26 percent to 10.6 million subscribers. The company still places a significant investment in traditional media. Last year it spent $85 million on ads, per the Nielsen Co. For the first five months of this year, the brand spent $28 million.Meanwhile, Netflix is expanding its available content. Earlier this month, it announced a deal with Disney-ABC Television Group that let Netflix make TV shows like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Hannah Montana available for viewing via online streaming.

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Netflix Queues Up Movie

Kenneth Hein

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Kenneth Hein