Tag: Netflix Original

  • Dear readers, the Duke of Hastings will not be returning for ‘Bridgerton’ season 2

    Dear readers, the Duke of Hastings will not be returning for ‘Bridgerton’ season 2

    Regé-Jean Page will not return for the second season of record-breaking Regency romance Bridgerton, Netflix said Friday, prompting howls of despair from fans of the dashing Duke of Hastings.

    The wildly popular series from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes puts a modern twist on the books about an upper-class family in early 19th-century England. British-Zimbabwean actor Page was a breakout star for the first season, but his character’s storylines largely conclude in the opening volume of Julia Quinn’s original books, which each follow a different sibling of the Bridgerton family.

    “Dearest Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest to find a Viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings,” said a letter on the show’s Twitter account.

    “We’ll miss Simon’s presence onscreen, but he will always be a part of the Bridgerton family.”

    In January, Netflix announced that Bridgerton had become the streaming platform’s most popular new series, watched by over 82 million households.

    “Remember: the Duke is never gone,” wrote Rhimes on Instagram. “He’s just waiting to be binge watched all over again.”

    But some fans were apoplectic, with one writing: “It’s a joke, right? If not then you just killed that show.”

    “This better be a belated April fools joke,” wrote another.

    The first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she made her debut in Regency London, seeking a husband, while the second will focus on her brother Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey).

    “Daphne will remain a devoted wife and sister, helping her brother navigate the upcoming social season and what it has to offer— more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear,” read the announcement letter further.

    Read more – ‘Bridgerton’ is the arranged marriage we all want

    Meanwhile, speaking to Variety Magazine, Page said that he always saw the role as short-term.

    “It’s a one-season arc. It’s going to have a beginning, middle, end, give us a year,” Page remarked, recounting early conversations with producers.

    “It felt like a limited series. I get to come in, I get to contribute my bit and then the Bridgerton family rolls on,” he shared.

    The actor also mused that retiring the character at the end of season one provided some closure for audiences.

    “I have nothing but excitement for Bridgerton continuing to steam train off and conquer the globe,” he said, adding: “But there is also value in completing these arcs and sticking the landing.”

  • #BegumsforBegums: Pooja Bhatt sends love to Pakistani journalists

    #BegumsforBegums: Pooja Bhatt sends love to Pakistani journalists

    Pooja Bhatt has sent love to Pakistani journalists Mehmal Sarfaraz, Benazir Shah, Reema Omer and Natasha Zai for appreciating her latest web series Bombay Begums. The four journalists host the Aurat Card, a wide-ranging show which discusses everything from politics to Netflix, from a female perspective.

    “Thank you Begums. Loved this,” said Pooja, while responding to their review on the series.

    In another tweet, the Bollywood actor, while talking about the Pakistani journalists, said: “Asli Begums toh yeh hain!”

    The actor also coined the hashtag ‘#BegumsforBegums’ for the hosts of the Aurat Card.

    Bhatt also thanked fashion designer Deepak Perwani for appreciating her performance, saying: “Thank you my friend. Means so much coming from you.”

    Featuring Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Plabita Borthakur and Aadhya Anand besides Bhatt, Bombay Begums is a series about five women from different parts of society trying to get ahead in modern Mumbai, formerly called Bombay. Bhatt plays Rani in the series, who is the CEO of The Royal Bank of Bombay. A former bank teller from Kanpur, Rani is a self-made woman who has seen the dark side of life. The show deals with a variety of issues faced by women, including menstruation, menopause, sexual harassment, fertility issues and infidelity.

    The show earlier ran into controversy after India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanded a ban on the show for normalising minors indulging in casual sex and drug abuse and objected to a scene showing “minors having cocaine”.

    Bombay Begums released on International Women’s Day (March 8) on Netflix and was trending at the number one spot in Pakistan for a few weeks.

  • Netflix plans to cancel password sharing with friends

    Netflix is reportedly testing a new feature to restrict users from sharing their passwords with those who don’t live with the owner of the original account.

    According to a report in BBC, some Netflix users have reported seeing a a pop message on their screens saying: “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”

    “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so,” a Netflix’s spokesperson told the news media publication. “In the trial, users can verify they are allowed to access the account by a code, sent via text or email.”

    However, the video steaming giant, which has more than 200 million subscribers across the world, has not made the final decision about whether the company will roll this out across its network.

    It is pertinent to add that, Netflix’s terms and services say: “The Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”

    Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it will release more than 70 movies this year across comedy, drama, family and other genres, a lineup that underscores the streaming service’s growing prominence in the film business. It added that it plans to release a new movie every week for the entire year of 2021.

  • Malala shares a list of her favourite TV shows, films

    Malala shares a list of her favourite TV shows, films

    If anything the pandemic induced quarantine gave everyone a chance to binge-watch endless TV shows and films. Malala Yousafzai, in a recent interactive session with her Instagram followers, asked them to share their recommendations and listed TV shows and movies she recently watched and enjoyed.

    Malala revealed that she recently watched and enjoyed The White Tiger, Wolfwalkers and Soul.

    Read more – ‘Family-friendly’ movies you should NOT be watching with your family

    The White Tiger

    Based on Aravind Adiga’s book of the same name, The White Tiger explores poverty and class struggles in modern-day India. The book was published in 2008 and won the 40th Man Booker Prize in the same year. Meanwhile, the cast of the movie includes Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Adarsh Gourav besides Rao. It has been directed by Ramin Bahrani. The final instalment in directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s “Irish folklore trilogy” 

    Wolfwalkers

    Wolfwalkers is an animated movie and has been directed by Tomm Moore, and Ross Stewart. Wolfwalkers is the final installment of the Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s “Irish folklore trilogy”.

    Soul

    Soul, produced by Disney, revolves around the Joe, who is a middle school band teacher , who suddenly finds his soul detached from his body. The movie premiered at the London Film Festival on October 11, 2020.

    Malala further revealed that she loved Boys State.

    “In this documentary, it’s amazing to see teenage boys act like established politicians,” said Malala. “Some have strong convictions based on their own experiences. Other boys will just say anything for power and to win the support of the crowd.”

    Malala added that she would love to see Girls State too.

    In December 2020, Malala joined TikTok to raise funds for her charity organisation.

  • Netflix India announces star-studded lineup for 2021

    Netflix India has announced that it would release 41 shows and films in India this year, calling the move its “next big leap” in the world’s second-most populous nation India, where video streaming services have become more popular.

    According to details, Netflix’s new roster includes 41 titles featuring Bollywood actors, stand-up comedy shows and original series. Most shows will be in the Hindi language.

    The upcoming content will feature top Bollywood actors including Madhuri Dixit, Kartik Aryan, Sonakshi Sinha, Karan Johar, Manoj Bajpayee, R. Madhavan, and Raveena Tandon.

    “We are taking our next big leap in India,” said Netflix while announcing the news, adding that the upcoming lineup “features more variety and diversity than we have seen before”.

    India, whose Bollywood film industry makes more productions each year than Hollywood, remains a challenging market for the streaming services.

    Amazon’s Prime Video has become embroiled in legal cases and police complaints over a political drama Tandav deemed offensive to Hindu religious sentiments. The streaming platform apologised to viewers over some scenes.

    Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it will release more than 70 movies this year across comedy, drama, family and other genres, a lineup that underscores the streaming service’s growing prominence in the film business. It added that it plans to release a new movie every week for the entire year of 2021.

  • Obamas to adapt Mohsin Hamid’s ‘Exit West’ for Netflix with Riz Ahmed in the lead

    Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground Productions on Friday announced six new projects in development for Netflix Inc, including a love story with a supernatural twist and a young adult thriller.

    The former president and first lady’s Higher Ground Productions will adapt British-Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s novel Exit West into a film, according to a statement from Netflix. The book tells the story of a young couple who find magical doors to transport them to other places and land in the middle of a global refugee crisis. Obama had also named it as one of the best books he read in 2017. According to The New York Times, the upcoming project will star the Pakistani-British actor Riz Ahmed.

    Other film projects include a science-fiction movie called Satellite, which will be produced with T Street, a production company run by Star Wars director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman. Another is Tenzing, the story of the Nepalese-Indian man who first reached the summit of Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand.

    The Young Wife is a feature film that follows a woman on the day of her wedding who feels out of sync as a storm approaches.

    The company also is developing two TV series. Firekeeper’s Daughter is a thriller based on a young adult novel by Angeline Boulley about an 18-year-old Ojibwe tribe member who reluctantly goes undercover in a police investigation on her reservation.

    The other series is a nature documentary about national parks.

    Netflix said the projects will be released over the next few years but did not give exact release dates.

    Read more – Netflix to release a new movie every week in 2021

    The Obamas signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in 2018. Their earlier Netflix projects include American Factory, which won an Oscar in 2020 for best documentary.

  • ‘Bridgerton’ smashes records to become Netflix’s biggest show ever

    ‘Bridgerton’ smashes records to become Netflix’s biggest show ever

    Regency-era British drama Bridgerton is Netflix’s biggest series ever with more than 82 million households tuning in to watch the show, the streaming platform has announced. That is a 19M households higher than the four-week projection Netflix issued 10 days into the Shondaland series’ run (63 million), at the time the streamer’s fifth-biggest launch in history.

    Read more – ‘Bridgerton’ is the arranged marriage we all want

    The series which continues to be a sensation is now Netflix’s biggest series ever, pushing down the previous record-holder The Witcher (76M in its first 28 days) to number two.

    Read more – Netflix’s five most-watched original series revealed

    Created by Shondaland veteran, Chris Van Dusen, Bridgerton ranked number one overall in 83 countries including the US, UK, Pakistan, India, and South Africa, and made the top 10 in every country except Japan, Netflix stated in a blogpost. The series is based on Julia Quinn’s novels of the same name. The first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she made her debut in Regency London, seeking a husband.

    Analysts say that the series’ timing likely played a role in its breakout success. It arrived amid the latest deadly COVID-19 surge with people in many countries exhausted after months in quarantine.

    “I think the show really provides an incredible escape for audiences at a time where that’s exactly what’s needed,” Van Dusen said last week when the series Season 2 renewal was announced. ”Bridgerton is this lavish, vibrant, steamy Regency love story; it is about romance, love, and joy; I think all of those things are really universal themes people are responding to.”

    Meanwhile, the cast and creators of the drama have also expressed their shock and delight over the show’s success.

    It is pertinent to add here that The Queen’s Gambit still ranks as Netflix’s biggest scripted limited series to date.

  • Rajkummar Rao thanks Zara Noor Abbas for appreciating ‘The White Tiger’

    Rajkummar Rao has thanked Zara Noor Abbas for appreciating his latest release The White Tiger.

    In an Instagram story, Zara had called the film a “masterpiece” and had urged her followers to “Watch this Now.” Responding to Zara’s story, Rao expressed his gratitude, writing: “Thank you so much.”

    Read more – ‘Tandav’: A weak script saved by brilliant performances

    Based on Aravind Adiga’s book of the same name, The White Tiger explores poverty and class struggles in modern-day India. The book was published in 2008 and won the 40th Man Booker Prize in the same year. Meanwhile, the cast of the movie includes Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Adarsh Gourav besides Rao. It has been directed by Ramin Bahrani.

  • Everything you need to know about ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2

    Everything you need to know about ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2

    Netflix has officially announced that their trending period drama Bridgerton will be returning for a second season. While the announcement was not unexpected given the show’s popularity, we admit that it did bring us great joy.

    The renewal announcement came from none other than Lady Whistledown, who in a message posted to social media said: “Dearest Readers, The ton are abuzz with the latest gossip, and so it is my honour to impart to you: Bridgerton shall officially return for a second season.”

    According to Lady Whistledown’s announcement, production will resume in Spring 2021, and the second season will focus on the “romantic activities” of Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey).

    Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen, while talking about the second season, said: “We have a bunch of new characters we are going to be introducing. Anthony is going to have a love interest and it’s going to be as sweeping and as beautiful as viewers have come to expect from the show.”

    He further shared that casting is currently underway for several new roles, most notably the female romantic lead opposite Anthony Bridgerton in The Viscount Who Loved Me, Kate Sheffield. It is also being reported that the actor who will play Sheffield will likely be an actress of color, likely of South Asian/Indian descent.

    The series which is based on Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton romance novel series featured a different sibling in each of the eight books and from what we understand, it is now Anthony’s turn. The first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she made her debut in Regency London, seeking a husband.

    Bridgerton debuted on Netflix in December 2020 and has continued to win audiences trending worldwide even a month after its release. Netflix earlier said that the series was on course to watched by more than 63 million households in the four weeks from its Christmas Day premiere.

    The buzzy Regency romance comes from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes and puts a modern twist on the books about an upper-class family in early 19th-century England, introducing colour-blind casting and strong feminist themes.

    Read more – ‘Bridgerton’ is the arranged marriage we all want

    While a release date for the second season has not yet been announced, it is being speculated that the show will either release on Christmas 2021 or 2022.

  • Netflix crosses 200 million subscribers

    Netflix crosses 200 million subscribers

    Netflix on Tuesday topped subscriber growth expectations in the past quarter, keeping ahead of new streaming rivals competing for viewers stuck in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Read more – Netflix’s five most-watched original series revealed

    As per details, the streaming platform added some 8.5 million paid subscribers in the quarter to reach 203 million, topping 200 million despite recent price hikes, its quarterly earning update has revealed.

    “COVID-19 has accelerated that big shift from linear to streaming entertainment,” said Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann. “So, the underlying long-term looks good.”

    The company’s cash flow was so strong that it will no longer borrow money to pay for operations, and is considering starting to buy back shares, according to a letter to investors.

    Netflix shares jumped more than 12 percent in after-market trades following the release. Profits dipped to $542 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $587 million in the same period in 2019. But overall revenue in the quarter surged 21.5 percent to $6.6 billion.

    According to the earnings report, Netflix added a record 37 million paid memberships for the full year. Paid membership increased 23 percent in the final quarter of 2020 when compared with the same period a year earlier, but average revenue per membership was flat, according to the Silicon Valley-based company.

    While Netflix raised rates slightly in the US late last year, the majority — some 83 percent — of its new subscribers were from outside North America, the earnings report indicated.

    Read more – ‘Bridgerton’ is the arranged marriage we all want

    Meanwhile, Netflix has invested heavily in original shows and films to make itself a must-have service in the increasingly competitive streaming market. Netflix executives said their productions are back up and running in most regions after being derailed by the pandemic.

    Netflix boasted having more than 500 titles in post-production or being readied for release on the service, with the plan being to launch at least one new original film every week.

    Already the master of the pandemic-era movie landscape, Netflix last week offered a preview of upcoming 2021 releases, a list with no fewer than 70 star-studded feature films.

    From drama, comedy, and science fiction to horror and even Westerns, the slate will take in every major film genre before the year is out, with some releases poised as potential competition for major awards.