For a period of roughly seven years between the late 2010s and early 2010s, David Fincher looked like one of Hollywood’s great auteurs, a visionary genius who early adopted digital cinema, a perennial Oscar contender, and a man who could make dark, pulpy, solid movies with genuine commercial appeal. Between classics like “Zodiac,” “The Social Network,” and “Gone Girl,” he could do no wrong.
Then Fincher crossed another new frontier: the world of Netflix and streaming. “House of Cards,” two episodes of which he produced and directed, was Netflix’s — and streaming’s — first big hit and proof that the binge-watching model that Netflix had pioneered was the future. By giving Fincher creative control over the series, a bigger budget, and a two-season order before a pilot was even shot, the show’s success put Netflix on the map as a prestige TV player alongside HBO, for which Fincher himself was pivotal. He compared working with Netflix to the way writers worked at Warner Bros. in the ’70s, with the freedom to go out and create something that was discussed, no questions asked or offered studio notes.
Over the past decade, Fincher has maintained that dedication and loyalty to Netflix as part of an overall deal that has seen him direct two features and a third in the upcoming “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” as well as producing “Mindhunter,” the anime series “Love, Death & Robots,” and several other projects (we’ll see if the “Squid Game” spinoff that was teased ever materializes. Happens). After this he joined Netflix ‘World War Z’ sequel shelved It was originally scheduled to be released in 2017, and this means he has not made a theatrical film since 2014’s “Gone Girl.”
As first reported bloombergFincher will not renew his deal with Netflix when it expires in 2027 after the release of “Cliff Booth.” But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the Fincher era at Netflix; He can still make his next film on the streamer, and he doesn’t have a deal anywhere else, as is the case with two other big-name directors who recently backed out of their Netflix deals, including Noah Baumbach, who is moving to Warner Bros.’ Clockwork, and Shawn Levy, who is transferring his TV deal to Disney.
Fincher’s dramatic series will be finished when Netflix actually gives “Cliff Booth” a proper rollout in theaters this Thanksgiving before it arrives on Netflix around Christmas. And we can’t deny that learning that Fincher was directing a Tarantino script that was supposed to be a sequel to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was actually one of those, we can’t believe this isn’t April Fools’ Day prank news. If the film reignites, it could easily change the narrative around Fincher’s Netflix legacy.
Everything else is worth reevaluating, however. “Mank” won two craft Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. This is one of those movies that you’ll be hard-pressed to imagine could exist anywhere else: a black-and-white biopic about the alcoholic co-writer of “Citizen Kane” that doesn’t make a commercial splash. Few of the older studios would adopt it, but Netflix and then-film chief Scott Stuber did. “The Killer” was also the kind of small-scale experiment, a clever but moody, character-driven one that no major studio would have given a chance. We can’t say we’ve heard anyone talk about it in the last two years since its release, but it spent four weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10, and Netflix’s What We Watched engagement report for the first half of this year says it still saw over 12 million people in that six-month period. It’s not just about the quality of these films. Over the course of Fincher’s deal, Hollywood has come to appreciate the cultural currency that a major theatrical rollout can offer. Netflix is also a reason Mass adoption of cinemas.
Giving Fincher a chance to try his hand at TV and animation are other areas that places like Apple or Amazon might be willing to spend a lot of money on, but Netflix got there first. “Mindhunter” has some devoted fans, to the extent that it topped a New York Times poll of the best shows of the 21st century. But the high cost of creating a period setting meant a third season never came to fruition, and despite many people repeatedly asking Fincher for updates in interviews, he doesn’t seem committed to getting it back off the ground.
Fincher let his deal expire – Or is Netflix allowing it to lapse – Potentially talks more about what film head Dan Lynn wants to prioritize. He faced the perception, fairly or unfairly, that he was more populist and less willing to throw money at big-name writers than Stuber was with Fincher and Baumbach. He rolled out the red carpet for Greta Gerwig, he said, and bought ambitious Cannes titles like “La Bola Negra” and “Emilia Perez.”
But it also puts an informal cap on an era of Fincher’s career that, for better or worse, won’t have the same iconic films as the eras that came before it.