Martin Scorsese’s Next Film Is Going To Netflix!

Yes, you read that headline right! Martin Scorsese, the filmmaker behind some of the most influential American films of the last 40 years, will have his next film, The Irishman (which stars Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino) debut straight to Netflix, as it appears Paramount Pictures, which is in the middle of an upheaval, has decided not to take the major risk of simply distributing the film domestically. Thus, Netflix is in the process of securing worldwide rights to the title, with this pairing offering a paradigm shift for Hollywood.

So far, Netflix’s movies haven’t made anywhere near as big of a splash as their TV content for a myriad of reasons, including the fact that, frankly, Netflix absolutely sucks at promoting their film content in a cohesive way, with minimal social media promotion and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actor go on a late night talk show to promote a Netflix sans The Ridiculous Six tolerating each other for a little bit on Jimmy Kimmel to promote their Netflix western. Here’s how bad they are at promoting their movies; did you know a drama called Imperial Dreams starring one of the three leads of the new Star Wars movie (John Boyega) came out three weeks ago? Here’s the thing too; it’s actually gotten strong reviews! But the only promotion I’ve seen for it is one obligatory trailer they put out and John Boyega promoting it on a handful of Instagram posts.

The marketing component is a key part of why their movies haven’t garnered enough success, though they’re looking to really go gung-ho this year with their movies, with a number of high-profile upcoming titles like The Discovery, Death Note, To The Bone, The Incredible Jessica James, Okja, Mute, War Machine and Bright. Plus, they spent $12.5 million at Sundance this year to acquire Dees Rees next movie, Mudbound, and now The Irishman shows the biggest attempt yet by Netflix that they’re not fooling around and are looking to be a major studio in the world of cinema. I just hope this one gets a theatrical release, even a limited one, so I can see The Irishman on the big screen.