May 18, 2022

Netflix Animation Cuts 70 Jobs, Cancels 3 Projects

Netflix Animation suffered another blow this month with job cuts and the cancellation of several projects.

What Happened-Netflix eliminated 70 positions at the animation studio, but the streaming company says that none of those affected were full-time Netflix employees.Variety reports that the studio has also announced the cancellation of several animation projects that were canceled.

What will happen to the laid-off employees - According to Streamer, it is unclear what will happen to the affected animation employees who are not full-time employees. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the 150 full-time employees who lost their jobs are expected to receive severance packages starting at four months. However, severance packages will vary depending on each staff member's position and length of service at Netflix.

Which projects have been cut-Titles that Netflix has confirmed have been cut include the film adaptation of Ava DuVernay's Wings of Fire, the early childhood series Antiracist Baby, and With Kind Regards From Kindergarten"; these were cut in addition to the other five films Netflix had confirmed as of May 3. More on the project cuts announced this week:

Why So Many Cuts Lately-Netflix is facing scrutiny in the first half of 2022 after a disastrous Q1 earnings report. Netflix lost subscribers worldwide for the first time in a decade and its stock price plummeted. In response, Netflix executives proposed new restrictions on password sharing, possible ad-supported subscriptions, and, as we are seeing this week, cuts to increased spending. There have also been rumors that Netflix is considering increasing theatrical releases of topical films, including exclusive slots for theatrical releases. [For Netflix, the past few weeks have been unprecedented, but perhaps inevitable. Subscriber growth is finite, and competing streaming platforms from major studios continue to emerge in many key regions. It is worth noting that any major animation studio has numerous projects in development at any given time. Most of these projects are quickly and easily cancelled without any public announcement. It is also worth noting that the company is still profitable. Netflix posted a profit of $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2022 on sales of $7.8 billion. This revenue was up nearly 10% from the same period last year.

Is Netflix giving up on animation - definitely not. While Netflix is providing animation productions from its own animation studio on one hand, it is acquiring and co-producing animation productions from third parties on the other. Recently, the company expanded its partnership with DNEG to include Ron Howard's The Shrinking of Treehorn (produced by Animal Logic), three new deals with Japanese animation production company Colorido ("Drifting Home," "A Whisker Away"), " Netflix has also acquired Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio," Henry Selick's "Wendell & Wild," Nora Toomey's 's "My Father's Dragon" and several other high-profile upcoming feature titles, maintaining one of the industry's largest pipelines of original animation.

Sorry, Marmaduke; Netflix acquired a low-profile adaptation with an A-list voice actor earlier this year and debuted it on May 6. It has yet to receive a single positive review from the mainstream media, with a 0% critic rating and 25% viewer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the critics' woes, the film ranked ninth on Netflix's Top 10 English-language films for the week of May 2-8, with seven. With 01.01 million hours of viewing time, the film moved into third place in the rankings with 15.03 million hours of viewing time in its second week. By comparison, Netflix's original animated film, Richard Linklater's "Apollo 10 1/2," never appeared in the streaming top 10.