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Why Hollywood Is Souring (Some) on Streaming

Reed Hastings
Photo by Wolter Peeters/Fairfax Media via Getty
Matthew Belloni
March 17, 2022

What if everything you thought you knew is a lie? People think that’s a line from The Matrix. It’s not, actually, but it sounds like it should be, so I’ll co-opt it to talk about this precarious moment in Hollywood. 

It’s been about five years since The Walt Disney Co. first announced that it was developing its own Disney-branded streaming service, and in that short time the entertainment industry has fully transformed itself to chase Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and the 1 billion households that, we’ve all been promised, are absolutely dying to pay for multiple subscription video services.