I have no trouble believing Netflix subscribers would rather throw on Red Notice on a Friday night than Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. One has Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot bouncing around the world hunting treasure. This does not require a Nielsen scientist, and according to an insider, Netflix audiences only want down-the-middle films. But c’mon, they can still smell slop when it's dropped on the homepage.
Netflix Audiences Apparently Aren’t ‘Highfalutin’
Where I start twitching is when “broad taste” gets treated as shorthand for audiences being fine with whatever expensive mush gets dropped onto streaming. This conversation popped up in The Hollywood Reporter while insiders discussed what could come next for outgoing Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, including a possible move to Netflix. One industry observer wondered whether their filmmaker-friendly approach would even fit the streamer’s audience. The source told THR:
Netflix’s audience taste is more down the middle. It would be interesting to have them and their more filmmaker-driven approach at Netflix. I just don’t know if the Netflix audience wants that. They want Red Notice, not May December or Roma or Lost Daughter.
I understand the business argument buried in there. Red Notice remains one of Netflix’s biggest movies ever, with the streamer currently listing it as its No. 2 most-watched film of all time, just behind K-Pop Demon Hunters. Netflix’s biggest movies tend to be accessible new action films, thrillers, comedies and animation rather than quiet awards dramas. That does not mean the audience wants slop.
A popcorn movie can be ridiculous. I actively encourage ridiculous. Give me explosions. Give me movie stars doing impossible things. Give me a villain with a secret base inside an active volcano. Just make it good.
Red Notice is actually a pretty useful example of the problem. I watched it. I can’t say I particularly liked it, and I remember almost nothing about it. The whole movie has disappeared into that weird black hole in my brain where the most forgettable movies go to die. That's the problem, as I see it. There is a difference between making something broad and making something disposable. Netflix viewers aren't inherently dumb, and they can tell the difference.
A Popcorn Movie Can Be Smart, And It Needs A Pulse
Look at Netflix’s own all-time list. KPop Demon Hunters currently sits at No. 1. Don’t Look Up, Bird Box, and Leave the World Behind are also among its most-watched films. Those movies are wildly different from one another, but each has an actual identity.
Even Netflix says its members watch a wide range of material. Its first-half 2026 streaming calendar report included huge numbers for action, romantic comedies, animation, documentaries, anime and international programming.
So, yes, Roma was never going to put up Red Notice numbers. Nobody sensible expected it to. That is like discovering more people bought tickets to Top Gun: Maverick than The Banshees of Inisherin and concluding audiences hate good dialogue.
This is also why I think De Luca and Abdy going to the streamer could be interesting. Their Warner Bros. run produced filmmaker-driven movies that still knew audiences existed. Sinners, Weapons, Superman and A Minecraft Movie could hardly be more different, yet their slate showed there is room for personality inside commercial filmmaking.
I would absolutely let them experiment with theatrical releases. Netflix already owns the most powerful streaming distribution system on Earth. A genuine theatrical lane would give certain movies time to become events before they become another rectangle fighting for attention on the homepage.
Folks with a Netflix subscription probably do want popcorn movies. Fine. Give them popcorn movies. Just remember, we can still smell stale popcorn.
