This year, Netflix is packed to the brim with beefed up cinematic content that is guaranteed to keep us entertained for hours on end.
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For all that it proved to be, mostly bleak, challenging, and downright unbearable, 2020 also became the timely opportunity where we got to discover many things on an insular and intimate level. With not much of a choice, this was the year that ultimately allowed us to connect and reconnect with relationships, ourselves, and well, Netflix. For over 195 million subscribers of the world’s leading streaming entertainment service in over 190 countries, with approximately 30 million of those joining the fold over the course of the first year of the pandemic in its biggest growth surge since its inception, the access to the gateway of entertainment couldn’t have meant more than it obviously did.
With a lot of time spent indoors, as was and still is mandated by appropriate task forces of different governments, as well as of the singular calls from scientists and healthcare professionals, there was suddenly a whole lot of time on our hands and with limited distractions to turn to. This period of our history compelled the entire human race to shift many functions digitally from its previous tepid pace to something more in hyper speed. In terms of entertainment, this meant opening up the portals of the platform even more than it already offered, because this time, everyone was definitely looking in on it for respite and salvation.
Every existing streaming platform not only beefed up their portfolio of content, but also have dedicated their efforts to the direct-to-consumer-first focus. With the likes of Disney+ unveiling its epic entertainment lineup, HBO Max playing host to the premiere of Wonder Woman 1984, and Netflix committing to its foothold in Korea with an investment of two new production facilities, this is where the game is at. It only makes sense, because at some point, people will have consumed as much content as they humanly possibly could. Needless to say, they will want to see something consistently interesting, fresh, and out-of-the-box to appease fleeting attention spans, keep renewing their subscriptions, and most importantly, to stay safely at home as much as possible. (Let’s be real here, it doesn’t look like we’ll be completely out of the woods in a year’s time.)
Kicking us off in 2021, Netflix just announced that it will be offering new movies every week for the year, thereby giving us every season to stay at home with more than enough to get us by. Guaranteed to keep us entertained for hours on end, this includes original productions that are set to take the streaming platform soaring to greater heights. From highly-anticipated films from award-winning filmmakers (Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up), long-time coming conclusions of romances that have since sent our hearts aflutter (The Kissing Booth and To All The Boys: Always And Forever), to dazzling directorial debuts (Halle Berry’s Bruised and Lin Manuel-Miranda’s tick, tick…BOOM!), there is a lot to look forward to.
If that doesn’t make you want to race to the couch or huddle up with your comforter in bed, then let the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Octavia Spencer, Melissa McCarthy, Joey King, Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Amy Adams, Chris Hemsworth, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Andrew Garfield, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Lawrence, and Leonardo DiCaprio convince to keep on watching.
In the first quarter alone, Netflix is already treating us to a slew of releases to look forward to such as Yes Day (Jennifer Garner), Moxie (Amy Poehler), and Outside The Wire (Anthony Mackie), as well of films already working up the much coveted award season buzz, Pieces Of A Woman (Vanessa Kirby, Ellen Burstyn), The White Tiger (Priyanka Chopra), and Malcolm & Marie (Zendaya, John David Washington). The goal is simple: to make you feel every emotion, show different perspectives of an already existing context, and give you something to talk about well after the credits roll and you hit what comes next.
With all that there is to come from the land of Netflix, it sure looks like we won’t even be need to be prompted with “are you still watching,” because clearly, we sure will be.
