Streaming site Netflix has unexpectedly axed two film projects, despite both being completed, to maintain consistent content spending. The original movies The Inheritance and House/Wife have been scrapped.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, both projects were reportedly genre pictures, something the platform should depend on following successful releases such as Stranger Things. However, Netflix still decided to part with the productions despite a finished product in both cases.
Alejandro Brugues had directed The Inheritance, a film following the ageing patriarch of a wealthy family who fears someone is coming to kill him. Bob Gunton from The Shawshank Redemption was set to star in the leading role.
Joe Russo and Chris LaMont wrote the movie, which co-starred Peyton List, Austin Stowell, Briana Middleton, David Walton and Rachel Nichols.
Alice Braga would have starred on Netflix in House/Wife, for which The Hollywood Reporter shared the synopsis: “a mother recovering from a brutal accident moves into a prototype smart home with her family, only to find the house’s AI system may have sinister intentions.”
The house being run by a prototype AI latches onto the influx of horror and thriller movies focusing on technology as the villain as social commentary.
The script was written by Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen, with Alice Braga, Kris Holden-Ried and Sarah Gadon also having on-screen appearances.
The streaming platform reportedly made the cuts to save on production spending, despite gaining over 7million new subscribers through their last quarter. Netflix is looking to obtain a consistent level of content spending, $17billion while focusing on profits from its 230 million-plus subscribers globally.
The site will instead push its confirmed released projects Murder Mystery 2, starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston and due for release on Friday, March 31st; Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother, coming Friday, May 12th and Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2, expected to be released on Friday, June 16th.
