Over the last few years the line between film and television has become more and more blurred. This is due in no small part to platforms like Netflix, who have few qualms against funneling massive amounts of money into original television programming. With these increased budgets, Netflix Originals can enlist the right tools and talent to go toe to toe with the best Hollywood movies. Series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and House of Cards require massive budgets in order to work, but Netflix's next project has taken it to the next level, becoming its most expensive television project to date.
According to a new report from Variety, it seems that Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Netflix original series, The Get Down, has proven to be something of a financial disaster for Netflix. The production went well over its estimated budget of $7.5 million per episode for 12 episodes, and the estimates indicate that the entire first season has exceeded $120 million to produce. If you need a little bit of help putting that figure into perspective, that means that The Get Down cost more than twice what it cost 20th Century Fox to get Deadpool made.
The production of The Get Down has become known around Hollywood for becoming a bona fide debacle. Over the course of the last two and a half years, the series went through a nearly unprecedented number of stalls, rewrites, and delays for a Netflix project. Baz Luhrmann has never been known for subtlety in any of his work, but this new information seemingly confirms that The Get Down is easily the most expensive Netflix series of all time, as well as one of the most expensive television series in the history of the medium.
The Get Down is Baz Luhrmann's first ever television project, and it's one that seems perfectly suited to his particular set of talents. Taking place during the birth of hip-hop and rap, the show will follow a group of youths as they struggle to make names for themselves as artists in the New York burrow of The Bronx. As is the case with most Baz Luhrmann affairs, expect healthy amounts of drama displayed alongside colorful, musical set pieces.
Netflix still seems fairly convinced that The Get Down was worth the trouble. Check out the teaser trailer for the upcoming series below to see for yourself:
CinemaBlend will bring you all of the latest and greatest information related to The Get Down -- and all of Netflix's most highly anticipated content -- as more information becomes available to us. The first half of The Get Down's first season will premiere next month on August 12; then we will find out if all that money was truly worth it in the end.
