When it comes to producing exclusive movies, Netflix, in a way, cannot win.
If the streamer makes a lousy movie, the project will be criticized for its quality.
If the streamer makes what appears to be a fantastic movie, the company will be criticized for not releasing the movie in theaters. Call it the Road House paradox.
(The sweet spot, it would seem, is to release movies that are perfectly watchable yet mediocre — which, coincidentally, Netflix does quite a bit).
On Sunday, the streamer released the first teaser trailer for director Guillermo del Toro’s longtime passion project take on Frankenstein. The prospect of yet another adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel might seem wearisome, as there have been nearly 200 filmic versions of the tale already. Yet the trailer (below) looks absolutely stunning — and hugely cinematic. The film stars Oscar Isaac as the mad doctor, Jacob Elordi as his monster and Mia Goth as Victor’s fiancée and features a sumptuous visual feast of Victorian and Arctic imagery.
This has led to fans to pretty much say the same thing: The most upvoted comments on YouTube contend the film — which will have its global premiere on Netflix in November — should be given a theatrical release.
Some samples: “Guillermo Del Toro is too good for Netflix. This needs a theater release!” and “I think we can all agree that this should be released in theaters. Guillermo’s efforts deserve it” and “Guillermo del Toro is for theaters, not for Netflix. All that man makes is art,” along with the kinder, if rather passive aggressive: “Thank you Netflix for continuing to give Del Toro a platform. He deserves far greater.”
The irony — as the last comment hints at — is that Netflix did what other studios did not by funding the project, and it’s not like others didn’t have a chance. This is a film that the best picture Oscar winner (for 2017’s The Shape of Water) has apparently been on record as saying he “would kill to make” since 2007.
Oscar Isaac in Frankenstein
Ken Woroner/Netflix
Back in 2016, he elaborated on his passion for the project with an interview with Den of Geek and how he plans to include parts of the novel that are typically left out of other adaptations, such as its framing device which includes the North Pole sequence. So, in a sense, even though the story has been adapted countless times, moviegoers who have seen some of the most popular adaptations of the book might have never seen the “real” (or at least whole) story.
“To this day, nobody has made the book, but the book became my bible, because what Mary Shelley wrote was the quintessential sense of isolation you have as a kid,” he said. “So, Frankenstein to me is the pinnacle of everything, and part of me wants to do a version of it, part of me has for more than 25 years chickened out of making it. I dream I can make the greatest Frankenstein ever, but then if you make it, you’ve made it. Whether it’s great or not, it’s done. You cannot dream about it anymore. That’s the tragedy of a filmmaker. You can dream of something, but once you’ve made it, you’ve made it.”
While it might seem obvious enough that somebody should have bet on this movie for a theatrical run, the combination of a presumption of Frankenstein fatigue and the box office performance of de Toro’s last theatrical feature (2021’s Nightmare Alley) probably did make the project seem like a risky bet. In the wake of Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu blowing out the box office in December, however, Frankenstein is starting to look like it would have done well in the fourth quarter.
(To be technical about this, Netflix will certainly screen the film somewhere — even if only to qualify it for awards consideration).
Interestingly enough, Netflix also developed Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride, which is a remake of Bride of Frankenstein, but then passed it over to Warner Bros. The studio will release it next March — in theaters.
