Netflix Inc. and The Weinstein Company today announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will make foreign language, documentary and certain other movies from The Weinstein Company exclusively available for Netflix members in the U.S. to watch instantly.
The Artist, the most honored film of the year with 17 awards for Best Picture and ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, will make its pay TV debut exclusively on Netflix rather than on traditional premium cable.
Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, The Artist brings to life the dawn of talking pictures in an original and deeply entertaining way. The film's many honors include the Golden Globe for Best Picture/ Comedy or Musical and Best Picture Awards from the Producers Guild of America, British Academy of Film and Television, the London Critics Circle and NY Film Critics Circle. It has garnered numerous prestigious awards for Hazanavicius, Dujardin, Bejo, and composer Ludovic Bource.
Also making its pay TV premiere on Netflix is Undefeated, nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, Undefeated follows players on a Memphis, TN inner-city high school football team as it attempts to win its first playoff game in the school's history.
A diverse slate of TWC specialty films will appear exclusively on Netflix within one year of their theatrical release, including the gripping French-language World War II drama Sarah's Key, starring Academy Award-nominated actress Kristin Scott Thomas; the recent French box office record-breaker Intouchables; the romantic drama W.E., directed by Madonna and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Original Song/Motion Picture; the taut Shakespearean adaptation Coriolanus, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes; and The Bully Project, a timely documentary about bullying in America's schools.
Terms of the deal, the first between TWC and the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows, weren't disclosed.
"We couldn't be happier to be working again with Harvey and Bob, who have an unmatched track record of creating critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "The Artist is a symbol of the Weinsteins' triumphant return to the top of the film business. Through deep passion, great taste and phenomenal vision, Harvey and Bob continue to surprise audiences and make history."
"It is a fantastic coup for Netflix to acquire The Artist and the package of additional titles," said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein, "With this deal, a company that loves movies, Netflix, joins forces with a company that is built on that same love. It's exciting that we can offer consumers a supremely convenient way to see the kinds of movies that made us want to be in this business in the first place."