Netflix chose not to buy Sony’s new animated film Harold and the Purple Crayon as part of their updated content plan. The movie, based on the popular children’s book and directed by Carlos Saldanha, features Zachary Levi as Harold, the main character.
Harold lives in an animated world where he can create anything by drawing it. His adventure starts when he steps into the real world and realizes how much he doesn’t know. Before its release, the movie confused many people online, mainly because Harold is usually shown as a child, but Levi plays him as an adult.
According to Bloomberg, before Sony planned to release Harold and the Purple Crayon on August 2, the studio asked Netflix if they wanted to buy the film. Sony was worried the movie might struggle to compete with Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4, which were set to release around the same time.
Advertisement Although Sony was happy with the film, Netflix wasn’t interested. Recently, Netflix has been buying movies that aren’t going to theaters, but this time they passed on Harold and the Purple Crayon. Under the direction of film chairman Dan Lin, Netflix has focused on making fewer but better-quality movies by spending wisely.
With its new plan, Netflix wants to change how people think about movies that go straight to streaming. They want to prove that they can still make great films. Since more people are choosing to watch movies at home instead of going to theaters, Netflix believes streaming is the future.
They aim to create the same impact with their streaming films that theater releases do. Because of this, Harold and the Purple Crayon isn’t the only movie Netflix will say no to. Netflix also plans to stop buying movies from other studios and focus on making better original films instead.
The decision affected how many people could see Harold and the Purple Crayon, as it only played in theaters and didn’t reach a big audience, making just $30.7 million worldwide. Right now, you can stream the movie on Prime Video, Apple TV+, and VUDU.
It may eventually be on Netflix because of Sony’s deal with the platform. However, no one knows how well it could’ve done if it went straight to streaming, where it might have attracted families at home looking for summer entertainment.
Netflix’s new strategy focuses on quality over quantity, which means fewer movies will be released on the platform, and only a select few will make it. This change could be good if it leads to better films. However, it might also cause other platforms to reject movies they would have released before the shift in how people watch movies.
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A movie’s quality shouldn’t be judged just by how well it does at the box office, as many factors affect its success. While Harold and the Purple Crayon didn’t do well in theaters, Netflix’s plan to improve its platform might lead to fewer creative projects being made. Since studios control which films get released, reducing the number of movies could mean some great ones never get seen, or they won’t reach a bigger, more accessible audience.
Source: Bloomberg