David Fincher is not renewing his overall deal with Netflix when it expires next year, ending a six-year exclusive partnership that produced three feature films, Deadline and Variety reported. The end of the David Fincher Netflix deal was first reported by Bloomberg.
Fincher isn’t signing a new overall deal with another studio, meaning he could still work with Netflix on future projects, according to Variety. Netflix did not respond to Variety’s request for comment.
Inside the David Fincher Netflix deal
Fincher’s history with Netflix dates back to the streamer’s early original-programming push. He executive produced and directed episodes of “House of Cards,” which won seven Emmys, and later served as an executive producer, showrunner and director on Joe Penhall’s “Mindhunter,” which ran for two seasons, according to Deadline.
He signed an exclusive pact with Netflix in 2020, the year he released “Mank” on the streamer. Variety counts three films from the partnership: “Mank”; “The Killer,” a hitman thriller starring Michael Fassbender; and “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a Quentin Tarantino-written sequel to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” starring Brad Pitt.
The partnership delivered awards attention early: “Mank” earned 10 Oscar nominations and won two, for cinematography and production design. Fincher also executive produced Netflix’s Emmy-winning animated anthology “Love, Death & Robots.”
What it means for fans
“The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the last announced film under the Fincher Netflix deal, is still coming as planned. The film gets an exclusive two-week run in Imax theaters starting Nov. 25 before arriving on Netflix on Dec. 23, according to Deadline and Variety. The release marks a break from Netflix’s usual strategy, as the streamer experiments with theatrical runs, and even plans to report box office figures on select titles, to accommodate filmmakers who want their movies on the big screen.
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Rothman told Variety the studio had been attached to make the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” follow-up when Tarantino planned to direct it himself. “The only other person that he was comfortable directing his script was David Fincher, and David Fincher was exclusive to Netflix, so we were not going to stand in anybody’s way,” Rothman said.
Context
The end of the Fincher Netflix deal puts him on a growing list of top filmmakers exiting Netflix after long tenures. Noah Baumbach, who made his last four movies at the streamer, signed a deal with Warner Bros. Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps set an overall television deal with Disney’s 20th Century after nearly a decade with Netflix, and Levy’s “Stranger Things” collaborators Matt and Ross Duffer moved their deal to Paramount, according to Variety and Deadline.
Fincher’s last wide theatrical release was 2014’s “Gone Girl,” which grossed about $370 million worldwide, per Deadline.
What’s next
No new studio deal or future project for Fincher has been announced. The David Fincher Netflix deal runs through next year.
Reporting from Deadline and Variety contributed to this story.
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