Steven Spielberg inks film production deal with Netflix

Steven Spielberg’s production outfit Amblin Partners has signed a partnership with streaming giant Netflix.

According to Deadline, under the deal the company will produce multiple films for the streamer per year.

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The partnership is an addition to the banner’s long-standing output pact with Universal, which is theatrical in nature and was renewed in December.

“At Amblin, storytelling will forever be at the center of everything we do, and from the minute Ted (Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer) and I started discussing a partnership, it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways,” Spielberg in a statement.

“This new avenue for our films, alongside the stories we continue to tell with our longtime family at Universal and our other partners, will be incredibly fulfilling for me personally since we get to embark on it together with Ted, and I can’t wait to get started with him, Scott, and the entire Netflix team,” he added. Sarandos said working with a “creative visionary” like Spielberg was a huge honour for Netflix.

The deal comes four years after several reports claimed that Spielberg had said once “you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie” and argued that if it’s good, it deserves an Emmy and not Oscars.

He had also taken a potshot at the streaming services by urging directors to make movies for the “big dark theatres”.