While the number of subscribers on the Netflix side continues to increase and projects follow one another, the platform seems to be backtracking on certain subjects. And “Red Notice 2” could be one of them.
A few days ago, the New York Times published a very interesting article on Netflix’s new strategy: making fewer films, but of better quality. If the big boss of the firm Ted Sarandos denied the rumors since then, it is clear that the streaming platform has taken a new direction in recent years.
By establishing itself in different territories in 2015, notably in France, the American giant opted for an offensive strategy, by multiplying local and international projects. And the quality is not always there (hello Marseille). By offering total creative freedom to its teams, Netflix was able to bring back great directors (Scorsese, Inarritu, Fincher, etc.) but also bankable talents into the stable.
For a Ryan Reynolds, Netflix does not hesitate to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. The actor will have shot three big-budget films for them (around 150/200 million each): 6 Underground, Adam Through Time and Red Notice.
In this latest film released in 2021, the producers pulled off a real heist by bringing Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot together on screen. With nearly 450 million hours viewed since its launch, Red Notice is the most viewed film on Netflix :
“We can decry “Red Notice” all we want, but the film was watched the equivalent of 230 million times during its first 91 days, or 2.5 million times per day on average for 91 days. And in the first half of 2023, more than a year after its release, the film was still watched the equivalent of 190,000 times per day between January and June 2023. Frédéric lets us know, who analyzes trends via his site Netflix and figures.
The company announced the start of work on two suites… of which we have no further news today.
Red Notice 2, where is it?
In June 2023, while she was a guest at Netflix’s TUDUM event, Gal Gadot gave news from Red Notice 2. The Israeli actress revealed that the script was completed and that she was even able to read it. If she affirms in passing that all the teams are on the job, the film will not start shooting anytime soon.
While Netflix wanted to release a Red Notice film every two years, this second part will not be released before 2025 or even 2026 if it still drags on. In addition to the fact that the schedules of these three stars are extremely busy, Hollywood continues to pay for last summer’s actors’ and writers’ strike. Many productions were seriously delayed, while others were simply postponed or even canceled.
An economic situation that could harm Red Notice 2 and 3.
Netflix and its sequel plans
Netflix also seems to have calmed things down when it comes to producing sequels to all its successes. The example of Agent Stone with Gal Gadot, released last year, is proof of this. The end of the action film clearly announced a second part, which will probably not see the light of day. When we look at the time it takes the giant to produce them, we wonder if Netflix’s strategy is still good.
“The question of sequels is a very interesting question indeed. In the case of Birdbox, it’s less a sequel than a spin-off since the “real” sequel was announced a few years ago without any news recently, like Red Notice 2 and 3 , Army of the Dead 2 or The Gray Man 2.
Netflix has a tendency to announce sequels a little quickly and ultimately not release them. The fact of retaining talent so that they do not go elsewhere at least for a given time is perhaps an important point but Netflix also needs franchises to develop, even if I am not convinced that this is necessarily a obligatory passage.
Birdbox Barcelona is an interesting case because there was a desire to relocate the action to another country, to take the measure of the global aspect of Netflix, which they have often tried in the past, with La Casa de papel South Korea version or Elite India version. In the figures, it rather worked since Bird Box Barcelona was the 3rd most watched non-English language film in 2023 on the service.” he concludes his analysis.
The platform was also due to release The Old Guard 2 this year with Charlize Theron, before postponing it to a later date. Surprising when we know that it was filmed a long time ago and that subscribers have been waiting for this sequel for 4 years… This does not bode well for Red Notice 2, therefore.