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Netflix Doubles Down on ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Squid Game’ Spin-Offs
Christian Hetrick
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Netflix’s subscriber numbers have been a bit Upside Down lately, with the streaming giant shedding customers last quarter instead of adding them.
But one thing that’s still worked well for Netflix is “Stranger Things,” the hit sci-fi horror series that just wrapped up its fourth season. The latest installment surpassed 1 billion hours watched, making it the second-most-viewed title in Netflix history. The show dominates the cultural zeitgeist like few others, with the ability to send singer Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” near the top of the charts 37 years after its release.
So it’s no surprise that Netflix is now doubling down on “Stranger Things,” planning a spinoff series developed by the show’s creators Matt and Ross Duffer. On Wednesday, the streaming giant announced the Duffer brothers launched a new production company called Upside Down Pictures, which is working on several projects for Netflix, including the “Stranger Things” spinoff.
Details are light, but the Duffer brothers have said the new show will be a ”1,000% different” than the flagship series, one that’s unlikely to be centered on main characters Eleven (played by Millie Bobbie Brown) or Steve (Joe Keery). Netflix and the Duffer brothers also confirmed a forthcoming stage play “set within the world and mythology” of “Stranger Things.”
The announcements show that even at a time when Netflix is slashing staff to reign in costs, the company is investing more money into its fan-favorite franchises. The streaming service is making a reality TV series based on “Squid Game,” which Netflix claims will offer the biggest cash prize for a TV competition but presumably less death. That’s in addition to a second season of the Korean dystopian hit.
The company’s expansion into gaming includes a host of mobile titles based on popular series like “The Queen’s Gambit” and “La Casa de Papel.” “Stranger Things” has already gotten the video game treatment.
Building upon proven blockbusters is, of course, not a new idea in Hollywood. But the streaming wars have put the strategy on steroids. Just take a look at Disney Plus, which next month releases “Andor,” a “Star Wars” spinoff that’s a prequel to the spinoff “Rogue One,” as well as “Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation,” in which the galactic battles are put on hold for some much needed R&R. All told, Disney had planned for 10 new Star Wars series and 10 Marvel shows in the near future.
While Netflix lacks that kind of franchise firepower, “Stranger Things” is one of their biggest arsenals. It makes sense that, even as Netflix grasps at new ideas like reversing its resistance to advertising, the company is betting big on something that already works.
The streaming service needs all the help it can get: Netflix not only reported its first subscriber loss in a decade during the first quarter, but predicted that the second quarter would be even worse. That dire prediction came despite knowing that “Stranger Things 4” was set to stream this summer. It’s a sign that, for Netflix, simply adding more “Stranger Things” monsters won’t be a silver bullet.
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Christian Hetrick
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
CrowdStrike CEO Says He Regrets Not Firing People Quicker
03:10 PM | March 04, 2020
Ben Bergman/dot.LA
George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of the cloud-native endpoint security platform CrowdStrike, says executives should be obsessed with culture. Everyone below him must be fanatical about customer success and outcome and if they aren't fitting in, they need to go quickly. It's one of the biggest lessons he's learned as CEO.
"Not one time have I regretted firing someone too fast," Kurtz told a lunchtime crowd at the first day of the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica. "It's that I waited too long."
Kurtz founded the company in Sunnyvale, CA, in 2011 and it went public last year. He was joined on a panel by John Chambers, the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, who said he bought 180 companies during his tenure. But he did not acquire a company that was not a very close cultural fit.
"I walked on one of the bigger acquisitions we were going to do," Chambers said. "Culture is as important as strategy and vision and I did not understand that when I was a young CEO."
Chambers said he was proud of Cisco's 95% employee retention rate when he was CEO, which is well above the industry average. He oversaw a rigorous hiring process to make sure candidates were right.
"If you're not interviewing through 10 people, you're not doing the screening process properly," Chambers said.
If an executive wanted to jump to a competitor, he would try to find out what was at the root of someone's unhappiness. The number one factor: Dissatisfaction with their immediate supervisor.
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Ben Bergman
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
https://twitter.com/thebenbergman
ben@dot.la
LA’s Upgrade in Travel and NBA Viewing
08:41 AM | July 26, 2024
Image Source: Los Angeles World Airports
🔦 Spotlight
Exciting developments are underway for Los Angeles as the city prepares for major upgrades in both travel and entertainment. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has approved an additional $400 million for the Automated People Mover (APM) at LAX, increasing its total budget to $3.34 billion. This boost ensures the elevated train’s completion by December 8, 2025, with service starting in January 2026. For Angelenos, this means a significant improvement in travel convenience. The APM will streamline connections between parking, rental car facilities, and the new Metro transit station, drastically cutting traffic congestion around the airport. Imagine a future without the dreaded 30-minute traffic delays at LAX! The APM will operate 24/7, reducing airport traffic by 42 million vehicle miles annually and carrying 30 million passengers each year, while also creating thousands of local jobs and supporting small businesses.
Meanwhile, the NBA is also making waves with its new broadcasting deals. The league has signed multi-year agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, marking a notable shift in media partnerships. ESPN will maintain its long-standing role, NBC returns as a network broadcaster after years away, and Amazon Prime Video will provide NBA games through its streaming platform. Starting with the 2025-2026 season, these deals will enhance the league's reach and revenue, aligning with the NBA's goal to expand its audience and adapt to evolving viewing habits. Whether you're catching the action on TV or streaming online, these changes promise to elevate the fan experience and bring more basketball excitement to Los Angeles.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Pearl, a startup that makes AI-powered software that assists dentists in identifying cavities, gum disease, and other dental conditions, raised a $58M Series B funding led by Left Lane Capital with Smash Capital, and others also participating. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Fulcrum Venture Group participated in a prior $3.5M Pre-Seed Round for Code Metal, a developer tools startup. - learn more
- B Capital co-led a $12.5M Seed Round for Star Catcher, a startup that aims to develop a space-based grid that captures solar energy in space and distributes it to satellites and other space assets. - learn more
- Mantis VC and Amplify participated in a $140M Series C for Chainguard, an open source security startup. - learn more
- Prominent LA venture capitalist, Carter Reum and wife, Paris Hilton, participated in a $14M Seed/Series A for W, the men’s personal care brand from Jake Paul. - learn more
LA Exits
- Warner Bros. Games acquired Player First Games, developer of the recently launched MultiVersus free-to-play platform fighter videogame. - learn more
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