Netflix wins feature film Oscars: Where do they go from here?

Netflix brought home a few gold statues on Sunday at the 91st Annual Academy Awards. Post-Oscars, where does Netflix go from here?

At the 2019 Oscars, Netflix won its 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Oscars in its history, including its first feature film Oscars. Roma was awarded for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Director to Alfonso Cuaron, and Period. End of Sentence won the award for Best Documentary Short Subject.

In 2017, The White Helmets won for Best Documentary Short Subject and in 2018 Icarus won for Best Documentary Feature. That brings Netflix to six Academy Awards in three years.

How does this affect its future?

Netflix has had its share of controversy lately: film lovers angry about feature films not getting the proper theater treatment, customers angry about raising prices, and more. Yet, they continue to produce quality films and television shows. The Oscars proved one thing: Netflix can hang with the established production companies.

Looking ahead, Netflix has some fairly large projects upcoming. A film by Martin Scorsese, The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino is due this year. Also, a film dropping in March, Triple Frontier stars Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, and Pedro Pascal looks to make a big splash in the film world. These bigger and more notable movies will keep Netflix in the mainstream and with a prime opportunity to earn more nominations at the next Academy Awards.

The deals Netflix has signed with various production companies and actors ensure that quality content will be available for consumers. It is expected that a film like Roma will show up in the next few years as well and have a run at the Oscars once again.

Personally, I love the Netflix structure. Films like Annihilation and Roma get limited runs in theaters, and they are available to millions of customers at home. The more eyes on a piece of content, the better. However, I also see the negative here. Those two films are theater experiences and should be seen on the big screen, yet both did not bring in substantial box office numbers with their respective runs.

So, which is better? A film released strictly on Netflix that has reportedly 40+ million viewers like Bird Box in a few weeks after its release, or films with limited releases and then streamable on Netflix after?

Roma just grabbed three Oscars by itself. This question is being asked by Hollywood in general, but also by film lovers around the world. Is this the method of content delivery moving forward for Netflix? Or, is there a more straight line approach where theaters are not even in the equation? Only time will tell.