As its acquisition of live streaming rights to the SAG Awards last week once again showed, Netflix clearly values the prestige that comes with the traditional showbiz awards cycle.
But will Netflix, which broke through at the highest level when Roma won the Best Picture Oscar in 2019, stick with the annual awards chase after what has been an unsuccessful year in terms of audience and trophy production?
It's latest effort, Gothic mystery-themed drama The Pale Blue Eye, starring Christian Bale, drew just under 40 million viewing hours in its second and first full week of release.
That led all Netflix films for the week of Jan. 9-15. But truth be told, the performance wasn't all that much better than Netflix's No. 2 ranked offering, a cheaply assembled, paint-by-numbers documentary about one-time viral sensation turned grizzly murderer Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, aka "Kai the Axe-Wielding Hitchhiker." (Smash, smash ... sammmash!)
Scoring only a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, the Edgar Allan Poe-themed Pale Blue Eye -- which was given a limited qualifying theatrical release by Netflix in December -- doesn't seem to have much awards traction.
Netflix's other trophy-season candidate, Knives Out sequel The Glass Onion, has done a little better, topping out at a solid 127.3 million viewing hours in its second week of release and scoring a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. But its also-ran status as a Golden Globes nominee for Best Musical/Comedy might have represented the apex of its trophy chances.
Meanwhile, Netflix's German language adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front has had some awards traction, collecting 14 BAFTA nominations, as well as a Golden Globes nod for best dramatic film. The 2 1/2-hour subtitled film debuted on Netflix's streaming platform on Oct. 28 after a short theatrical run, garnering a lukewarm 40 million streaming hours in its first three days on the platform, but it never generated any real audience traction from there.
We're not saying one down awards season will convince Netflix that trophy chasing doesn't enhance its brand. But it's an expensive business to part of. And still just eight months separated from the "Black Tuesday" of April 19th 2022, the streaming company does still seem to be at a moment of introspection about its forward-looking business.
So who knows.
It was actually season 2 of Ginny & Georgia that ranked as Netflix's top ranked program for the second consecutive week, capturing 162.7 million viewing hours from Jan. 9-15.
Addams Family reimagining Wednesday finished second among Netflix shows in its eighth week, adding another 57.8 million viewing hours to its total.
The sophomore debut of Vikings: Valhalla captured 55.3 million viewing hours -- about 25 million less than what season 1 debuted with a year ago.
