Ever since they reported their first net subscriber loss last spring, Netflix has been faltering. They announced a plan to end password sharing, and introduced an ad-supported tier despite a longtime stance that ads weren’t their style. Then they raised prices across all their tiers, while prioritizing a content strategy of mediocre reality shows and paint-by-numbers action movies. Besides a couple of successes like Wednesday or Stranger Things, nothing they do tends to stick in the zeitgeist for very long anymore. Rather than improving the quality of the shows or movies they’re making, Netflix is instead expanding into brick and mortar locations. These spaces will be a combination of retail, dining, and live entertainment. I wonder whose idea this was and how much…chemical enhancement was behind it. It’s giving “Kendall Roy has a doomed light-bulb moment during a coke bender” to me.
According to a Bloomberg report quoting Josh Simon, the company’s vice president of consumer products, Netflix aims to open a network of stores offering retail, dining and live entertainment that leverage its TV shows and movies.
Netflix has not announced what it will be selling at the locations; it’s unclear if DVDs or any type of physical media will be part of the inventory.
The streamer plans to open the first two of these “Netflix House” locations in unannounced cities in the U.S. in 2025. It hopes to expand the concept to major cities around the world thereafter.
“We’ve seen how much fans love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows,” Simon told Bloomberg. “And we’ve been thinking a lot about how we take that to the next level.”
A Queen’s Ball: The Bridgerton Experience was an in-person event put on by Netflix that was successful. But that’s also one of their most popular shows. I had friends go to it and they all said it was super fun. In general, I remain unconvinced that there are enough series/movies with deep enough fan bases to give these locations the traffic they’ll need, besides probably Stranger Things. In the NPR article they also point out that Netflix is clearly trying to imitate Disney’s strategy (like with Disneyland). But the difference is that Disney has an extremely unified theme across all touch points, from movies to merch to theme parks: nostalgia. They’ve faltered in recent years–the $1200-a-night, immersive Star Wars hotel is closing–but they still have the most stacked IP, the deepest bench, in the entire world. They can merchandise to hell and back, and create blockbuster theme parks, because multiple generations have grown up with their characters. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937. Disney’s entire brand is centered around reliving your own memories of childhood, and then recreating those memories with your own children. Netflix has not been around long enough to build that kind of legacy. There isn’t a single Netflix title with as deep of a cultural impact as Snow White, or Toy Story, or even Frozen. And because Netflix has a habit of canceling shows after two seasons, people don’t get to develop the parasocial relationships that make long-running network shows like The Office or Friends so beloved. Netflix should fix their content strategy before chasing after experimental retail concepts.
photos from Netflix offices courtesy Netflix
I watch Stranger Things, I don’t want to visit it! I don’t want to visit Disney either, but if I had to, I would have picked the Star Wars hotel.
Disney just flat out overpriced themselves with the Star Wars hotel and making it a whole immersive experience. I didn’t want to spend that much money to spend two or three days in a hotel where you cant go to the park and there’s no pool etc. Doing the Star Wars hotel as just a regular themed hotel (still with the ship cabins for sleeping etc) might have been a much better choice IMO.
The prices for that Star Wars hotel is obscene – who actually is paying for it?
I have a friend who took her son and said it was incredible. They actually had underground tunnels to the busses and they could not see out of the buses so it never broke character. But her son also asked if they could go back the next weekend and she was like, Sorry no…this is a once on a lifetime trip.
The cost for two nights was the same as four nights and three parks for two people at one of the luxury resort hotels. We would have loved to have gone, but we were waiting for them to drop the price. Maybe they’ll repurpose it in a way that more people can enjoy.
movie theaters?
That was my first thought too! They’re talking about a 4D movie theater experience!
Yup.
One of their problems is that they keep cancelling shows that are just building a fanbase.
Lockwood & Co. is a great series, but when it came out, I saw lots of people saying “we’re not even going to start watching because you will cancel anyway” and they did, despite it hitting 1 in the UK (where the series is based) and more and more people discovering it.
It’s still a fun first season that can be watched on its own, but there was book material for at least 2 more.
I really enjoyed the Lockwood & Co. Netflix series as well as the books. Netflix really messed up an excellent opportunity by cancelling after season 1.
Another difference with Disney is that the parks really do try to appeal to all ages and the majority of interests. If you don’t like rides, you can watch a show. If you don’t like shows, you can ride Tower of Terror over and over again. If you want to see a parade, there are 5 a day. Plus Disney has really really good food.
Here – it sounds kind of……boring? Like I have no interest in walking through a stranger things house or eating at the Hawkins diner. There’s just not enough there to make it more than a passing interest in my opinion.
Netflix became a “must have” service because the original programming was so good initially. Now some of it is good but its harder to find the good shows vs the not-so-good shows. What are the Netflix shows that people talk about as soon as they drop? Still Stranger Things, Bridgerton – what else?
I’m trying really hard to think of what drops on Netflix that I immediately watch, and the only thing I’m coming up with is the crown which is headed into its last season. I gave up on stranger things last season and the Witcher has soon as Henry Cavill wasn’t part of it anymore.
I went to something like this for Downton Abbey a while back, it was fun, and I see it popping up in New York all the time for stuff like friends, Golden girls, etc. Not a new concept but I’ll be curious to see what they do with it. Maybe they’ll let you through 2/3 of the exhibit and then unceremoniously throw you out, to mimic how quickly they cancel good shows without warning.
There was a Stranger Things “experience” in Toronto this summer that was kind of like an escape room where you had to get through the lab and then wound up in the mall, where you could get food from Scoops Ahoy and shop. I didn’t do it but it sounded pretty interesting as a concept.
That actually sounds fun.
Is this going to be a Hard Rock Cafe / Dave & Buster’s mish-mash? There is a lot of empty retail space they can scoop up for a bargain.
Stranger Things is basically the only reason why I keep subscribing to Netflix. It’s my comfort show. Once that finally wraps up, I’m going to find a way to get the seasons on DVD or access them another way and then cut the cord.
I thought the first and last seasons were bonkers. I need to rewatch it. And as an 80’s kid, it was the first show that I felt actually nailed the decade with all the little nuances. That unless you lived through it might miss.
I live in NYC and they have several immersive pop-up experiences throughout the year. Like Titanic, Harry Potter, King Tut, Vikings etc…
Anything that can give the fans a better experience is a good thing. If it’s a touring experience even better for the people who don’t live in NY or LA.
I’m also in NYC. The Queen’s Ball: The Bridgerton Experience was across from my apartment. I didn’t go, but I did enjoy the people watching. Tons of costumed people commuting to/from and then waiting in line outside of the space. Very entertaining viewing from the comfort of my apartment. So many men in sherbet colored tails! I never expected to see suits in those colors out in the wild.
They’re setting up a Buffy experience in the same location now. More and more short term experiential events are popping up.
I finally cancelled my Netflix with the announcement of the last price hike. I was only watching reruns of Gilmore Girls anyway. I’m missing the Mike Flanagan stuff this October, but I’ll catch up when I pay for a month down the road to watch the last season of Stranger Things.
Mike Flanagan and Tim Robinson are the only 2 reasons why I keep my Netflix subscription. I’m halfway through The Fall of the House of Usher right now, and I’m loving it. I hope you can watch it soon!
OMG! I loved loved loved Lockwood & Co! I was sooo disappointed not to get another season.
I wanted to see what is behind the door!! How did George end up with Anthony? Where is George’s family? Who is Anthony Lockwood? Orphaned at 6–but apparently went to posh schools and retained the family house. . .how? Rats. So much potential. Oh well. . .
This reminds me of what Hard Rock tried to do with music and that Hollywood something restaurant that was owned at first by Arnold Swartzenegger, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis and others to immerse people in movie magic or whatever.
The endeavor of continually creating relevant experiences sounds expensive. When I think immersive, I want interactive sets, costumes, tangible goods that are going to be pricy.