Netflix Ends Long-Term Deals with Top Directors as It Shifts Strategy in Streaming Wars

Many of Netflix’s biggest critically acclaimed hits have been the products of its multiyear production deals with noted directors like David Fincher and Shawn Levy. In the past few weeks, though, the streamer has brought some of those partnerships to an end in a way that feels indicative of a larger strategic shift. With rival studios Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery on the verge of a megamerger that will reshape the entertainment landscape, Netflix is clearly thinking about how it can continue to hold its own in the ongoing streaming wars. But as the company charts its path forward, its plan to court subscribers might not put so much emphasis on big-name moviemakers.

On Thursday, Netflix shared that its production deal with David Fincher is coming to an end after six years. First announced in 2020, the partnership — which was originally scheduled to last for four years — gave Netflix the exclusive streaming rights to Fincher’s then-upcoming projects like his Herman J. Mankiewicz biographical drama, Mank. With Fincher having previously executive produced original series for Netflix like House of Cards and Mindhunter, the deal seemed to be a sign of Netflix having faith in his ability to keep audiences riveted.

At the time, Fincher joked that Mank’s critical reception and box office performance before it began streaming would determine what kinds of projects Netflix would let him make. Critics generally praised the film and it was ultimately nominated for 10 Academy Awards — two of which it won. But during Mank’s three-week theatrical run, it only made around $100,000 against a $25 million budget, and once it hit Netflix, it only managed to spend a single day on the streamer’s list of its top 10 most-watched movies (in last place). Though Fincher’s next project for Netflix — 2023’s The Killer — debuted at No. 1 on the chart, the project’s $452,000 box office gross against a $175 million budget made it another financial dud. And with The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth set to show in theaters for two weeks before it hits Netflix on December 23rd, the film could be another example of Fincher delivering a movie that isn’t exactly a huge monetary win for the streamer.

Fincher’s track record with Netflix is somewhat similar to director Shawn Levy’s. After almost a decade of working exclusively with the streamer on projects including Stranger Things, The Adam Project, and Shadow and Bone, Levy announced last month that he had signed a new overall production deal with Disney. Levy — whose directing career began with a number of Disney Channel series — framed his decision to leave Netflix as a kind of homecoming. But it was hard not to see his jumping ship as having been prompted by the way Stranger Things’ final season left audiences and critics disappointed.

The same was true when Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer announced last August 2025 that they were leaving Netflix for a four-year TV / film production deal with Paramount. The brothers could still have a hand in future Stranger Things projects, and their next series — The Boroughs — debuted on Netflix this past May to respectable numbers. But just one month after its release, The Boroughs was canceled.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that Levy’s and the Duffer Brothers’ departures were driven by the filmmakers’ desire to spend more time working on feature-length projects. Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter is slated to premiere next May, and the Duffers’ untitled Paramount film will debut sometime in 2028. Though Sarandos framed the filmmakers’ exits in a positive light, they’re part of a larger trend that makes it seem like Netflix is moving on from its era of signing filmmakers to lengthy deals. The company has also parted ways with Marriage Story writer-director Noah Baumbach, whose other Netflix projects, like White Noise and Jay Kelly, failed to make much of a splash.

Netflix is still banking on some directors being a major draw. The streamer’s production deal with Guillermo del Toro is ongoing, and it is treating the first of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia films as a proper event that will spend seven weeks in theaters before it begins streaming. And while Rian Johnson is taking a break after fulfilling the obligations of his $450 million deal to produce two Knives Out sequels, he could very well come back to Netflix with a plan to make more.

Going forward, it seems like Netflix’s main game plan is to put an increased focus on producing lower-budget series, live events, and sports programming. The company obviously isn’t giving up on movies — Gerwig will direct another Narnia feature and there’s a KPop Demon Hunters sequel on the way — but episodic content has been shown to be much more effective at keeping subscribers coming back.

This is why we’ve recently seen Netflix hyping up strange reality shows like Squid Game: The Challenge, Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, and The New Stanford Prison Experiment. None of those shows exactly come across as must-see TV like the horror series Mike Flanagan produced for Netflix before Amazon poached him in 2022. But that may not matter to Netflix as long as people are watching. After years of spending millions of dollars to produce movies that did not always result in consistent subscriber growth, Netflix appears to be entering a period of making more conservative bets. That might make the service feel a little less premium than it has in the past, but it could help it live to fight another day.