You know what this means, right? It's a sad state of affairs when a mafia movie directed by Martin Fucking Scorsese has trouble getting funded for theatrical release. There's a paradigm shift going on in Hollywood as far as how films are funded and which get green-lit. The bulk of films that draw in huge crowds today are the big-budget, SFX-heavy tentpoles (Marvel, DC, Pixar, Disney, Reboots, Sequels, Remakes). I don't think any major studio has the luxury to invest in smaller, character-driven flicks and see the same returns they were seeing 20 years ago. Sucks, but that's just the way it is.
What this Netflix deal does also mean is that Scorsese will probably be able to get whichever final cut he wants for the movie. Something that hasn't really happened for him the last, what, 20-odd some years. They have taken a personal project by an esteemed auteur, with a $100 Million budget no less, with no questions asked. God bless them.
Anne Thompson over at indieWire has the scoop:
"In a sign of the ongoing power shift in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese’s $100-million gangster movie “The Irishman,” his ninth starring Robert De Niro, has been scooped up by Netflix, which is in the process of closing a deal to release the movie to its 93 million subscribers in 190 countries."
"The movie was going to be backed by Paramount Pictures, but with its 12-year chairman Brad Grey heading out the door, Scorsese’s team put together another package. As someone close to the deal put it, “Scorsese’s movie is a risky deal, and Paramount is not in the position to take risks. This way, he can make the project he wants.”