Netflix releases numerous films and series each year, but not every project is a hit. The streaming giant often faces criticism for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on blockbusters that lack substance. However, their biggest flop came out ten years ago.

In 2015, Netflix attempted something new by producing original films. The platform hoped to have a hit on its hands with The Ridiculous 6, a Western comedy starring Adam Sandler.

Goal And Result

The streaming service aimed to create a franchise, but what followed was a fiasco Netflix would rather forget quickly. Even before the film's release, it faced backlash for alleged racism and offensive stereotypes.

Several Native American actors even left the set in protest over jokes they found disrespectful. While Sandler and Netflix claimed it was all satire, many viewers didn’t accept that as an excuse. The film was ruthlessly panned.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film achieved an embarrassing 0 percent, making The Ridiculous 6 the lowest-rated film in Netflix history. It also scored a miserable 4.9 on IMDb.



The film, intended as a parody of classic Westerns, had a huge budget but lacked finesse. The humor was described as 'flat', 'dated', and 'insufferable'. For Netflix, The Ridiculous 6 was a harsh lesson, demonstrating that a famous name and a large budget do not guarantee success, yet it seems Netflix has not learned from this mistake.

After eight years, The Witcher comes to an end. The fantasy series that began with Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia has officially completed its last filming day. The shoots for the fifth and final season wrapped up at Longcross Studios in the United Kingdom, where the cast and crew bid farewell to a production that was a flagship for Netflix for almost a decade.

The first shoots started in 2018 in Budapest, when Cavill was still the face of the series. Since then, Liam Hemsworth has taken over the lead role for the last two seasons. The concluding episodes mark the end of an era in which The Witcher evolved from an ambitious fantasy adaptation into a global phenomenon with a dedicated fan base.

The End Of An Era

According to insiders, the final filming days were emotional. Actress Freya Allan, who portrayed Ciri for seven years, shared on Instagram that it was “a remarkable journey” that has now reached its conclusion. Possible reshoots are not ruled out, but the majority of the production has been completed. The series thus concludes an intensive production period spanning three countries and five seasons.

Season four is set to premiere on October 30 and is currently in the final stages of post-production. The fifth and final season is expected in 2026, likely again in the fall. This brings the story of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer to its official close. However, fans need not leave the universe just yet: spin-offs and animated projects are planned to further expand the world of The Witcher.

900 Million

The series, based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, has become one of Netflix's most ambitious projects, with a total budget exceeding 700 million dollars. When adding other costs for spin-offs, the extravagant total reaches 900 million dollars.

The Swedish drama series Skiftet, also known as The New Force, has made an impressive entry into the Netflix Top 10 in multiple countries. This series, set in 1958 Stockholm, tells the story of Sweden's first female police officers.

Skiftet is directed by Rojda Sekersöz and Julia Lindström, and is described by Netflix with the keywords "Inspiring", "Drama" and "Female Friendship". The main roles are played by Josefin Asplund as Carin, Agnes Rase as Siv, and Malin Persson as Ingrid.

Mixed Reception

The series holds a score of 5.9/10 on IMDb. Although there is no Tomatometer score available, critics from the home country of Sweden have given mixed reactions. Karolina Fjellborg from Aftonbladet calls the series "cliché, but worth watching", while Evert Fremlén Arnesson from MovieZine describes it as an "unexpected failure".

The series is praised for its visual style and historical setting, but some reviewers find the character development shallow and the story predictable. Thindra Rundström from Filmtopp notes that the series has "beautiful ambitions", yet the female characters do not fully come into their own.

Now Available

Curious about Skiftet? The series is now available on Netflix.



The synopsis: In 1958, an experimental program begins in Stockholm, hiring the first female police officers. As they try to prove themselves, they face sexism, distrust from colleagues, and a dangerous murder case that tests their courage.

The Fast & Furious franchise (2001-2023) has so far grossed nearly $7.5 billion at the global box office with ten main entries and one spin-off, and fans are eagerly waiting for what should be the grand finale. However, it is currently facing serious development turmoil.

With such an impressive track record, giving the green light to another film seems like an obvious choice, especially since Fast & Furious 11 is touted as "the grand finale" of the long-running saga. However, a new update casts a cloud of uncertainty over the project.

Less Exotic Locations And Smaller Roles For Characters

A report from The Wall Street Journal states that there is still no approved script, no official release date, and no complete cast. The major issue is the budget, which the studio wants to drastically cut by at least $100 million, making many ideas from lead actor and producer Vin Diesel seem unfeasible.

From a business perspective, the studio's stance is understandable since returns have been declining since Fate of the Furious (2017), partly because post-COVID billion-dollar box offices are no longer guaranteed. Fast X (2023) barely turned a profit despite its production budget of over $340 million, grossing only $714.5 million.

Still One Of The Studio's Biggest Hits

This doesn't necessarily mean that the final installment won't be released, as even with a $100 million cut, there's still enough budget to deliver the spectacle fans want to see. It could still become a hit, but it may indicate a small trend showing that audiences might be losing a bit of interest.

As the years progress, it becomes more common for a film set in the future to align with reality. Such was the case in 2010, when a sci-fi film depicted a dystopian society in the year 2025.

When 2025 eventually arrived, it was clear that the technologies and ideas presented in the film had not yet materialized. However, in a frightening twist, the state of healthcare in 2025 turned out to be almost as alarming as the concepts presented in the film.

Happened Countless Times

This is often the strongest aspect of dystopian science fiction stories: the way society copes with new technologies is the most interesting part, even if those technologies never reach that stage.

Over the years, this has happened countless times in Hollywood productions. For example, 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968 and depicted a story set in 2001. Despite the fact that space travel didn’t look like it does in the film back then, it is still regarded as a classic. In 1985, Back to the Future II jumped ahead to 2015, but again, the technological predictions did not come to fruition thirty years later.

Predicting The Future

Repo Men may not be on the same level as those two films, but it did attempt to predict a future that was only 15 years away, and it similarly failed to materialize as the film suggested.



In 2010, Jude Law and Forest Whitaker starred in the sci-fi action film Repo Men, alongside Liev Schreiber, Alice Braga, and Carice van Houten. The film was directed by Miguel Sapochnik and is based on the novel The Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia.

New Technology

The story takes place in the year 2025 and introduces a new technology allowing people to receive biomechanical organs to replace failing ones, which instantly improves their quality of life.



But, as with all sci-fi films, there’s a dark twist: the company that develops the organs sells them on credit. Once someone falls behind on payments, the "Repo Men" are dispatched to reclaim the organs, often resulting in the death of the patients.

The Other Side

Law plays Remy, one of the Repo Men. At the beginning of the film, we see him and his partner Jake (Whitaker) kill a man to reclaim his biomechanical organs, dubbed "artiforgs," because he failed to pay his bills.



They excel at their job and seem unfazed by this macabre task. However, when Remy gets into an accident and needs an artificial heart, he must buy it on credit, learning the other side of the story.

Not A Success

Repo Men was neither a commercial nor a critical success. It grossed only $18.4 million against a budget of $32 million. Criticism was directed at the storyline, plot logic, and unrealistic technical elements, while the performances of Law and Whitaker, along with the action, received praise.



The science behind Repo Men was already questionable when the film came out. Some things do exist, such as artificial hearts, but most of the technological advancements suggested in the film are absurd and purely for entertainment. While artificial hips and joints did exist at that time, they were (and still are) nowhere near as advanced as depicted in the film.

More Sci-fi Gimmicks

Additionally, the film features more sci-fi gimmicks, such as stun guns that fire darts capable of incapacitating someone long enough to remove their organs. In the film, the patient wakes up post-operation, but without an organ and with certain death as a result. In reality, that is entirely impossible.



In short, nearly all the central plot elements surrounding artificially created organs are still not realized in 2025 as Repo Men predicted, and thankfully so. Nevertheless, the film remains highly topical. The chilling aspect of Repo Men is not the fictional technology but how hauntingly recognizable the social and economic reality is. Hence, Repo Men feels more relevant today than ever, no matter how absurd the technological aspects of the story may be.