Major shakeup at Netflix’s Animation department

[castletonsnob]

Netflix recently suffered a big drop in subscribers, as well as a BIG loss in money, and as a result, the company is laying people off. Unfortunately, this might mean the end of animation on Netflix.

www.thewrap.com/netflix-animation-shakeup-executives-fired-shows-canceled-staged-data/

[BlackoutCreature]

So where does this leave the He-Man cartoons?

[cj3]

f***. Lord please let Hilda or Cat Burglar have more of a future

[GuyOfOwnage]

They had to know this was going to happen with the more and more frequent price increases. It sucks that this kicks the animated content square in the nuts, though.

[Vampiro138]

they cancelled the Bone film, dammit Netflix I have been waiting since childhood when I first read Bone in Disney Adventures for a cartoon version!!!

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Nothing says we'll get people back by cutting things and spending less on quality

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Well at least F is for Family wrapped up.

[thechase]

Apr 20, 2022 20:42:25 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

So where does this leave the He-Man cartoons?

Reportedly Revelation II is being recorded right now (though only a fan site has verified this) and the CG He-Man show has at least one final season in post-production.

[A Platypus Rave]

Netflix Animation has had more hits than misses... when their live action original tends to do the other way around... and honestly... their Animation probably costs way less than a lot of their terrible Live action stuff

so of course.. Animation gets cut first

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Save Nimona, and a week later, purge the Animation division. F***ing amazing

Also Jeff Smith's Bone is cursed when it comes to making a Movie or Series adaptation, this is the third time it's been nixed in 30 years now...

[Lizuka #BLM]

Well, there goes any chance of getting more She-Ra at some point I guess. Sucks but at least it got a proper resolution. ... Not the same department but really hope budget cuts don't impact the Kakagurui spinoff or a potential season 3.

Honestly does kind of feel like we're coming into a bit of a cartoon dark age again at the moment, between stuff like this, Cartoon Network getting all onboard with wanting to be a toy company more than a TV channel, and Nickelodeon riding the same old things into the ground. After Owl House wraps up there'll be nothing current I'm following.

[A Platypus Rave]

Apr 21, 2022 1:46:44 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Well, there goes any chance of getting more She-Ra at some point I guess. Sucks but at least it got a proper resolution. ... Not the same department but really hope budget cuts don't impact the Kakagurui spinoff or a potential season 3.

Honestly does kind of feel like we're coming into a bit of a cartoon dark age again at the moment, between stuff like this, Cartoon Network getting all onboard with wanting to be a toy company more than a TV channel, and Nickelodeon riding the same old things into the ground. After Owl House wraps up there'll be nothing current I'm following.

She-ra was Dreamworks.

[Sir Woodrow]

Netflix has gotta make more shitty Joey King movies guys

[Mozenrath]

Apr 21, 2022 2:15:54 GMT -5 Sir Woodrow said:

Netflix has gotta make more shitty Joey King movies guys

Weirdly, I remember The Kissing Booth doing big numbers, so they probably decided that meant to hitch their wagon to her. Not to be that guy, but I do suspect that was probably moreso that one of the first scenes is her in an extremely tiny skirt, something that is plot relevant, because of course it is.

Given I've literally never heard of any of the other ones she's done for them, despite knowing they exist, probably a case of diminishing returns.

[eJm]

Apr 21, 2022 1:51:22 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

She-ra was Dreamworks.

Yeah, think this is one of the things we're going to have to distinguish with all this. Netflix does (or did, if rumors are true) have its own animation division but it also got a lot of its animation content from other studios producing their own stuff. As Plat mentioned, you have Dreamworks with the He-Man/She-Ra stuff, Trollhunters, the How to Train Your Dragon spinoffs etc, Warner Animation had the Green Eggs and Ham seasons and (internationally) Close Enough and other stuff here and there. Also, I'd be shocked if Netflix were the key people responsible for stuff like Arcane. If they wanted to shop that around to a Amazon or a HBO Max, there's likely something that allows them to do that (or with a delay, who knows?).

What this does mean is that things like Bone etc are under threat if they aren't already in some kind of production schedule and yeah, that sucks. It also shows in some ways how behind Netflix are in some of their strategies here. You have Warner Media and Paramount raiding its IP catalogue for content (the Adult Swim shows, Harley Quinn, Young Justice, Adventure Time etc) and looking into different initiatives, Disney+ being able to bring back stuff like The Proud Family, Amazon buying into Peanuts and Invincible and such and Netflix...apparently feels it's best to shut that down and basically let the competition steal its thunder.

Like, more people internationally right now have Netflix than they do HBO Max or Paramount+ because they don't exist here yet (Paramount+ will this summer, though) so if any of this is true, they've thrown in the towel and waiting for Paramount+ to launch and give people free access to Lower Decks and Kamp Koral or whatever else which just seems crazy to me?

EDIT: Also, I'm going to go ahead and put a ? in the thread title because we're not 100% sure about things yet.

[G✇JI☈A]

The Netflix Australia and New Zealand Twitter account just posted something boasting that Big Mouth has been renewed for two more seasons and it’s spin off Human Resources is getting a second season.

So I guess it depends on what. Doubted they would let those shows go anyway.

[eJm]

Apr 21, 2022 3:31:31 GMT -5 G✇JI☈A said:

The Netflix Australia and New Zealand Twitter account just posted something boasting that Big Mouth has been renewed for two more seasons and it’s spin off Human Resources is getting a second season.

So I guess it depends on what. Doubted they would let those shows go anyway.

What helps with Big Mouth is that it's tied with other production companies with other partnerships so the costs aren't the same as anything they've produced in-house. Titmouse, for example, have associations with both Warner and Amazon so if Netflix did pull the plug, they could easily get the show on HBO Max or Amazon Video and even with everything, wouldn't think Netflix would want that easy pathway.

Even the My Little Pony stuff is produced by Entertainment One so that's not likely under any threat.

[Feyrhausen]

Apr 20, 2022 20:23:56 GMT -5 castletonsnob said:

Netflix recently suffered a big drop in subscribers, as well as a BIG loss in money, and as a result, the company is laying people off. Unfortunately, this might mean the end of animation on Netflix.

www.thewrap.com/netflix-animation-shakeup-executives-fired-shows-canceled-staged-data/

Thing is they didnt have a huge drop in subscribers. Only 200,000. When they still have over 221 million. But in Wall Street having anything but insane and unsustainable growth is bad so their stock dropped 30%.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

That article title is clickbait. There's nothing there that says Netflix will never air a cartoon ever again. Just about some anticipated shows being dropped.

[Sir Woodrow]

I reckon if they could get a good studio behind it Bone would be a good fit for Apple