Netflix’s annual fan event, Tudum, occurred over the weekend. It’s their effort to create an in-house marketing machine/hype event a la Disney’s D23, and it’s sort of working. Certainly, there were people who showed up in person and shrieked at celebrities standing on a stage. But what was the viewership? In 2023, they claimed 78 million viewers across their online platforms and social media channels, including their YouTube page. But publishing those numbers without critical examination is just carrying water for Netflix’s marketing department, so here is a reminder that those numbers are not verified by an independent third-party.
This year’s event was held in Los Angeles on Saturday and the streamer trotted out a lot of stars to tease upcoming shows and movies, including the final season of Stranger Things—more on that later—and the third “Knives Out mystery”, Wake Up Dead Man. Rian Johnson was on hand with Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny, and Daryl McCormack to introduce the film’s teaser trailer.
It’s a SPOOKY little murder mystery! EXTREMELY here for Benoit Blanc to get his spook on. Also, the cast card reveals that Josh O’Connor’s character is named “Rev. Jud Duplenticy”, which is the best name in this franchise aside from “Benoit Blanc”. And Jeremy Renner’s character is named “Dr. Nat Sharp”, which means that in the Benoit Blanc universe—I know they subtitle these “A Knives Out Mystery” because of name recognition, but this franchise SHOULD be called “A Benoit Blanc Mystery”—Jeremy Renner: Celebrity exists, and makes hot sauce, AND there is a random doctor running around who looks just like Jeremy Renner. Will Rian Johnson resist making a joke about that? A mystery within a mystery!
Another big trailer on display is for Happy Gilmore 2.
I loved Happy Gilmore when I was a teenager and I am enjoying Adam Sandler’s “I’m trying again” era, but I am not sold on this. Comedy sequels are super hard and almost never work, and this just looks like too much of a rehash of the first movie but this time with 110% more celebrity cameos because Adam Sandler is an institution unto himself now. I’m rooting for this movie to be good, but this trailer is not convincing me.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are making a new movie together, directed by Joe Carnahan, called The Rip. Alongside “Mattfleck”, the films stars Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, and Kyle Chandler. The film doesn’t come out until January 2026, but in the meantime, Damon and Affleck did a little video with Cookie Monster, alluding to Netflix’s deal to support Sesame Workshop and Sesame Street since the US government no longer wants any part of helping kids learn to read or count or be functioning, emotionally healthy adults.
Not to give too much credit to a giant corporation, but Netflix has struck a deal with PBS to simultaneously air new episodes on the same day on PBS and the PBS Kids app, which means the new episodes of Sesame Street will remain easily accessible to children. But part of the Sesame Street library remains on HBO Max, which was the previous home of Sesame Workshop until earlier this year. Someone should ask David Zaslav about making those episodes available through PBS, too. Some things aren’t meant to make money, see what he says to that, it’d be funny.
Finally, the biggest movie teased at Tudum was Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. He was on hand with stars Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth to introduce the trailer. It looks AMAZING.
Del Toro has been trying to make this movie forever, and I’m glad he got to do it at long last, but I am bummed it’s a Netflix movie. If ever a movie looks “made for the big screen”, it’s this. But because it’s a Netflix movie, it will play on like 500 screens for two weeks. If you’re not lucky enough to live near one of the few theaters that gets this film, you won’t get to see it on a big screen, and I think that sucks. Fully acknowledging movie theaters have to do some work to improve the audience experience but look at this trailer and don’t tell me the thought of that film on a 40-foot screen doesn’t give you chills.
And don’t be like “Greta Gerwig got a wide release for Narnia” because she didn’t. Gerwig’s Narnia movie will be released for two weeks in IMAX theaters in 2026. There are 1,772 IMAX theaters in the world, of which 164 are in North America. A wide release is defined as more than 600 theaters in North America. Further, Ted Sarandos himself said the Narnia release is a “tactic” meant to “prime the pump” for the Netflix release and that it represents “no change at all to our theatrical strategy”. Basically, they made the IMAX deal to make Greta Gerwig happy, and despite Variety calling it “the big, broad theatrical release she wanted”, it isn’t. It’s a marketing tactic meant to appease a filmmaker who doesn’t want to feel bad about working for a company that actively and fundamentally does not support theatrical moviegoing.
Of course, they net filmmakers like Gerwig, Del Toro, Jane Campion, and Martin Scorsese because traditional studios don’t want to be in the business of making costly passion projects that might not make their money back in theaters. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone. Traditional studio cowardice drives auteurs into the arms of Netflix, who will game the system to let people save face about working for them but ultimately they continue to whittle away at the very concept of theatrical moviegoing. I asked a Netflix exec once why filmmakers like Del Toro keep making deals with them and she bluntly said, “They all think they’ll be the one to change our minds,” her point being that NONE OF THEM WILL CHANGE THEIR MINDS. THEY ARE NOT IN THE THEATRICAL BUSINESS.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing Frankenstein play in 500 theaters for two weeks later this year.
Also attached: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon out for dinner in LA after the Netflix event.
