Let’s see if I understand…Netflix recently canceled Jupiter’s Legacy – how they make such decisions is not always clear in that Netflix is a subscription-based service so they’re not bound to ratings in the same way as traditional television networks. That being said, how many people watch a show over a indeterminate period of time is also important – though Shadow & Bone is getting a second season!?
And I’ve sat through a few episodes of the latter. It’s not terrible but it’s also not all that interesting (I’m looking to do a review at some point so keep an eye out on my Youtube channel) though I get the feeling that Netflix isn’t exactly lacking Fantasy adaptations (be they live action or anime).
But a big budget superhero show? It’s virgin territory for the streaming giant and would have been a great halo series.
That apparently Jupiter’s Legacy was quite expensive (costing somewhere in the ballpark of $200 million, which if you’ve seen it was money well-spent because it’s really gorgeous, particularly the period stuff) though how much was it really in the sense that we’re not talking about that money being spent on a single episode, but over an entire season (which consisted of eight episodes).
Which isn’t cheap, but we’re not talking about anything even close to the cost of Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series, because Amazon understands what a halo series is all about.
Speaking of Amazon, they’ll likely never earn back the money they’re putting into Lord of the Rings, though when it premieres it will likely suck up all the oxygen, giving Amazon a platform to expand their Prime subscription service, which in all honesty is likely what they care about most.
By way of comparison, the Chevrolet Corvette is what’s known as a halo car. I’ll never be a sales leader, and was never intended/expected to be.
It has two jobs. The first is to get people into Chevrolet showrooms because while most people aren’t going to leave driving Corvettes, they may leave in a Camaro or some other Chevrolet vehicle.
The second is to show people that Chevrolet can build cars that are capable of challenging anything in the world (because there’re few auto makers capable of producing a car of the caliber of the Corvette as cheaply).
If it weren’t already apparent, Jupiter’s Legacy would be Netlix’s halo show.
Under most circumstances there’s little in the way of one to one comparisons between auto making and television shows, sometimes analogous behaviors arise.