There are things that are vogue just because they are expensive, and similar is the case with Netflix’s newest project. Electric State just got itself a trailer yesterday. And still, the headlines emphasize its budget rather than the actual trailer, and to be honest, it is valid. A 320 million for a sci-fi project from Netflix is absurd. As if someone forgot the “budget” is to manage the expenses, not to show off.
Now, it’s not like it’s the first time a movie has a $300+ million budget. As of recent years, we have seen quite many of them. But then again, the movies we are talking about are, of course, Avengers Endgame. The biggest movie of the century yet. And that one movie had a backing of ten years of worldbuilding and a year-long cliffhanger to make sure that the fans would run to the theaters to fling their money at Marvel.
Electric State, on the other hand, is a movie that Netflix just came up with and put in a massive amount of money and time in the production. The movie started its production in 2022, and after 2 years we have a trailer. It’s a coming-of-age tale with Millie Bobby Brown, mixed with sci-fi, directed by the Russo brothers. Based on a 2018 novel of the same name. The question is now beyond “why?”; the more probable question is “how?” as in, How did Netflix manage to spend so much?
Movies have been made on much less, and given the low buzz around the project with its only selling point being under question, it is highly unlikely that the movie will pay off. To be fair, the $300+ budget makes it look no different than any other $200 million budget movie. So what might work in the favor of Netflix over here?
Well, firstly, the publicity it is getting is definitely piquing the interest of the public. The actors, although a bit saturated, are still darlings to the audience. and the directors have a name for making not just movies but absolute epics. And these guys are well suited for a huge budget production. Netflix has a massive viewership, and although it might just be a gamble, for a platform like Netflix to play an uncalculated risk is unlikely.
The speculations are thus high if the electric state will be able to overcome its staggering budget to become a financial success.