Posted in: Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: bone, jeff smith, netflix
Bone: Netflix Confirms Jeff Smith Comic Series Adaptation Canceled
However way you want to slice it, today was- in no way, shape, or form, a good day for Netflix. By the end of Tuesday, the streaming giant had been dealt a major blow by Wall Street, ending the trading day down 35% (its biggest one-day selloff since 2004), losing $54 billion in market value in the process. The hit came after co-CEO Reed Hastings reported that Netflix had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of 2022 (a number that would've grown by another 500,000 when factoring in the Russian market being shut off) and an expected 2 million drop in the current quarter. Now as the streamer looks to things like an ad-supported second subscriber tier and cracking down on password sharing among subscribers, The Wrap is reporting a move this week that may have even larger ramifications on the streamer's animation content- a move that's led to the long-awaited animated adaptation of Jeff Smith's graphic novel series Bone to be canceled.
The site is reporting exclusively (with Netflix confirming) that Phil Rynda (Gravity Falls, Adventure Time), Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation at the streaming service was let go this week along with several members of their staff. In the report, the firing was attributed to a change in the creative & corporate approach to Kids & Family. According to the report:
"One producer, whose show on Netflix wasn't renewed, said that when they got to Netflix, Rynda… told Netflix creators, 'We want to be the home of everybody's favorite show.' By the time the producer left several years later, there was a 'new thesis statement': 'We want to make what our audience wants to see,' Reed Hastings, Netflix's Co-CEO, now told animation talent.
With that reported change in philosophy, The Wrap confirmed that not only was the October 2019-announced Bone canceled but also an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits (one of several Dahl-based projects in development) and Lauren Faust's Toil and Trouble. Though with regards to Dahl's The Twits. the streaming service is saying that the project is still alive but may end up as a feature film.