Dang, that looks intense! Several 'wtf' moments in that trailer. Was Max levitating?

It looked like she was.

Looks cool. I was one of those kids roller skating to Journey in the 80's. Very fun times while it lasted.

I'm sure most of you won't believe this, but the new season of this show has a reported cost of $30M per episode

Twitter

Yeah that doesn't sound right at all. Even the most expensive episodes of GoT only cost $15m.

Special effects and COVID-19 protocols. COVID protocols is adding millions to the budgets of these tentpole shows. Sets actually have to hire COVID health and safety staff.

and of course Netflix probably overpaid for some other things.

For millions an episode though? Testing, PPE and a few supervisors are expensive but not THAT expensive. Unless they're shooting at the rate of an episode per year or so.

Nothing on Stranger Things looks like it'd cost $270m for a season but maybe they struck a ridiculously rich deal. Who knows, but Netflix really does need to reel that shit in.

19 credited producers, large cast, 12 special effects companies, 3 production companies, licensing fees, high marketing costs.

I can kind of see how the costs would add up. But, $30M per episode does seem excessively large.

The article also says Virgin River costs about $3M per episode, which is one of Netflix's cheapest shows.

They get a season of Virgin River for the cost of an episode of Stranger Things, makes sense why they renewed it through season 5.

Levy is promising season 4 is huge so maybe we will see that budget on the screen, time will tell.

The episodes are supposed to be longer this season, maybe that factors into it as well. Still, that's a huge $$ amount. I imagine the cast is getting pretty well paid by this point--especially Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and Millie Bobby Brown.

I'm happy Netflix is willing to spend the money on it, though, as it's one of my favorite shows.

Five more weeks!

If each episode is movie-length that $30mil an episode makes some sense - especially with COVID etc. this season.

deleted

Without getting too far off topic, the stock price Netflix really took a nose dive in the last few months after numbers showing that their subscriber base is nearly saturated and have barely any growth. Clearly recent entries from Apple, Disney +, HBO max, plus others have definitely affected their bottom line as competition stiffens up.

Apparently someone at Netflix is now vowing to do some drastic cutbacks. It probably will not affect the tent pole shows (or will it?), but most likely there will be even more one and done shows at Netflix if they are actually serious about the belt tightening and trimming costs.

Given the recent news about Netflix's subscriber base shrinking and the stock price taking a nosedive...

Sandman reportedly cost about $15 million per episode, so I suspect that unless it's a runaway hit out of the gate, it won't see a second season.

To be brutally honest, I think it will probably go the way of Cowboy Bebop or Jupiter's Legacy. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of interest in Sandman outside of a few comic book fans and Gaiman's fanbase.

And if Stranger Things is running at $30 million per episode, it makes me wonder if they'll shitcan it before they make the fifth and final season. It's been three years since we got the last season, the kids are now young adults, and the pop cultural cachet the show had in its first couple of seasons seems to have waned. If the fourth season cost in the neighborhood of $300 million, the fifth will probably be around $400 or even $500 million. I wouldn't be surprised if they cancelled season five and had them end the series with an Netflix original movie.

We'll probably be seeing them cut back on scripted content, and see them pushing a lot more cheap reality crap and documentaries. And a bulk of the scripted content will be licensed foreign content like The Squid Game.

Not sure what you mean by this. Netflix made Squid Game.

Netflix gets massive revenue from ST in the form of merchandise, theme parks, video games etc. It'll get a 5th season regardless how much it costs or bombs. It's a long term play with the show.

what is this Volume 1 on 5/27 and then Volume 2 on July 3 stuff? are they splitting the season release for some reason. will it be like a few eps end of May and then few more in July? i don't get it. that is what it said after i finished S3 last night. either way, i hope this goes back to form because S3 was just horrible.

Maybe they are still doing post-production on those episodes? Id rather have some now than wait till July - 3 years after Season 3.

See Post 15.

yeah, i guess 5 eps in May and then 4 in July. pending the outcome of May, might be a brutal month long wait till July, but you're right, something better than nothing.

If you're an Ozark fan, you might want to check that thread out.

i haven't seen an ep yet, but i am planning to.

As I mentioned in the BCS thread, straddling both sides of June 1st gives a show two bites at the Emmy apple for the same season. It took until the second half-season for the many, many-times nominated John Hamm to finally win one for his final shows. I'm sure that's a consideration for Saul, not so much for Stranger Things.

Damn, hope you have time. 37 eps = 37 hrs roughly.

Some character posters from season 4, spoilered for size:

Eleven