On January 29, Netflix CCO Bela Bajaria took the stage at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles to deliver the equivalent of the streamer’s Upfronts presentation for 2025.
Responding to a recent The New York Times video essay by Kirby Ferguson, Bajaria centered her presentation around the accusation (leveled at all of pop culture, not specifically Netflix) that “creativity is dead.” To this, Bajaria responded: “creativity is not dead — not on Netflix, and not for the creators we work with.”
It’s an interesting, albeit somewhat deliberate misread of Ferguson’s point, which is that a lot of mainstream pop culture is derivative and stuck in a box. In fact, what he’s suggesting is that you need to dig below the (Internet’s) surface to find the trailblazers, the innovators, and the thought leaders breaking new ground.
Bajaria went on to explain: “[Netflix creators] are always coming up with amazing, original ideas we can’t stop thinking about. And they’re the reason 2025 is going to be the most surprising, most unique, most entertaining year yet.”
The streamer has reason to be happy: between the Oscar nominations (for Emilia Perez), the Golden Globes wins (for Baby Reindeer), and a recent slate of buzzy, if not always respectable, live events (Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson = bad; Beyonce at the Superbowl = good) Netflix has plenty to crow about.
Still, it’s hard not to see squint at the stockholder-pleasing buzz words about Netflix’s diverse, original, and daring programming slate when all of the speakers trotted out were long-term brand partners (the Duffer brothers, Tina Fey, Guillermo del Toro, John Mulaney, etc). And that’s before you realize that all of the biggest shows featured in the sizzle reel and projected on the walls of the auditorium are of new seasons of their top global series (Stranger Things S05, Wednesday S02, and Squid Game S03).
It undermines the event’s tagline “You’re Not Ready For What’s Next” when the answer appears to be…more of the same.
Obviously it’s hard to critique Netflix’s decision to rely on big name celebrities and splashy titles guaranteed to dazzle audiences; the big, familiar shows and movies are what audiences expect to see. It’s simply that the vast majority of the content that was being highlighted didn’t really support Bajaria’s oft-repeated messaging. Netflix is focusing on a wide variety of stories, but it’s still mostly in recognizable IP and/or with folks that audiences are familiar with.
Despite this, audiences hungry for the return of their faves have plenty to be excited about, including big debut dates such as:
- the final season of Squid Game, which kicks off Friday, June 27;
- Charlize Theron’s action sequel The Old Guard *finally* arrives July 2
- del Toro’s Frankenstein, starring Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, and Jacob Elordi as the Creature, drops in November
There are also some intriguing new collaborators, including Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a corrupt cop film RIP (Fall 2025), as well as films from contemporary auteurs Kathyrn Bigelow and Noah Baumbauch (dates TBD, but coming this year).
There was also a separate presentation on “local” programming designed to speak to culturally and linguistically specific audiences (Netflix boasts they’re producing content in 50 languages now).
Canadians will be pleased to know that there’s a documentary about the Expos leaving Montreal for Washington (and it looks good). We were also treated to a brief interview with comedian Mae Murray about their supernaturally tinged YA series Wayward, starring Toni Collette as the shady headmistress of a US reform school for troubled teens.
Keep an eye out for that one; it could be a dark horse contender (date TBD).
Next on Netflix was held in Los Angeles, Toronto and other locations simultaneously on Wednesday, Jan 29
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