Netflix may have conquered our living rooms, but when it comes to finding success in the world of film? The numbers speak for themselves. And they’re not kind.
The latest reminder of Netflix’s feature film struggles comes from The New York Times, which unveiled a reader-voted list of the top 100 films of the 21st century. More than 200,000 people participated, and out of the hundreds of original films Netflix has churned out since launching its original movie ambitions over a decade ago, guess how many made the cut?
Not one.
Knives Out, ranked at #91 on the list, at least has a tangential connection to the streamer, in that the original was released in theaters by Lionsgate in 2019; Netflix later swooped in with a $450 million deal for the sequels. But that’s it.
Obviously, this should be a sobering reality check for Netflix, which has spent years and billions of dollars trying to convince everyone that it’s just as much a serious player in film as it is in TV. The company has certainly tried to buy its way into cinematic respectability: Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, and David Fincher’s Mank all scored awards attention and critical praise. And yet, Netflix continues to fall short where it matters most.
At this year’s Oscars (the 97th), the streamer’s big focus was the cringe-worthy Emilia Pérez, the umpteenth Netflix movie to rack up loads of nominations and walk away with two lesser awards — for Best Original Song, “El Mal,” and Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña). That movie, meanwhile, still has a crazy-low 17% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on more than 10,000 user ratings.
If you ask me, this persistent disconnect between prestige and audience approval indicates a larger problem that Netflix so far seems unable to solve. Its movies over and over again check all the right boxes — from award-winning directors to big-name stars — but they sort of just come and go, rarely leaving much of a cultural footprint. Meanwhile, Netflix continues to throw jaw-dropping amounts of money at movie projects, often with little to show for it. One of the newest examples is The Electric State, a 2025 sci-fi epic from the Russo brothers that reportedly cost a staggering $320 million.
It landed with a thud, currently sitting at a brutal 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Of course, none of this will stop Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos from doubling down on the idea that movie theaters are “an outdated idea for most people,” and that his streamer is “saving” Hollywood, never mind that the most beloved films of the century — Parasite, Mulholland Drive, There Will Be Blood, Interstellar, and No Country for Old Men, which comprise the Times list’s top 5 — all played in theaters. They built their reputations the old-fashioned way, by being experienced communally and remembered long after the credits rolled.
Netflix has the money. It has the talent. What it doesn’t have, despite years of trying, is proof that its movies matter.
