It looks like Netflix is getting in on that hot Duplass business. According to Deadline, the acting/directing/producing brothers Mark and Jay Duplass have made a deal with Netflix to finance four movies through their Duplass Brothers Productions. Each movie will have “a short theatrical window” and then they’ll be hitting Netflix, making them a little more special than your average Netflix original. Netflix’s Ted Sarandos suggests that this move is a specific attempt to bring more independent-style films to its service, and he also references the similar deal that Netflix made with Adam Sandler back in October as the reason things like this can exist. The implication, we assume, is that people will pay for Netflix so they can see flashy dumb shit like an Adam Sandler movie, but then they’ll keep Netflix when they see cooler stuff like whatever the Duplass brothers are making.
Speaking of “whatever the Duplass brothers are making,” we have no idea what their four projects will actually entail. They could do more dramatic comedies/comedic dramas like The Skeleton Twins, or maybe they could make a movie about their characters from The Mindy Project. Actually, no, they should do a crossover with one of Adam Sandler’s Netflix movies, and create some kind of horrible Netflix shared universe.