Netflix Has Plans to Release About 80 Original Movies Next Year

Netflix has plans to increase its original content in 2018, just in case you needed more excuses to Netflix and chill.

As pointed out by Variety, the streaming service intends to release about 80 original films, which will reportedly range from "the million-dollar Sundance hit" to big-budget films like Bright starring Will Smith and Martin Scorsese’s gangster movie The Irishman starring Robert DeNiro.

"I think people will start seeing the potential for this original movie initiative, that it could be done on the enormous scale we have on the television side," Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos told investors during the Netflix Q3 2017 Earnings Interview.

Of course, this endeavor will not be cheap. Sarandos also announced Netflix will spend about $8 billion on movies and TV content in 2018, a $2 million increase from this year’s spending. The announcement came shortly after Netflix raised its subscription prices, with the most popular plan going from $9.99 to $10.99 though the company insists the new rates have nothing to do with the larger budget.

"There’s no timing correlation between our intent to grow content and to grow content spending and the price increases," Netflix CFO David Wells said. "This has been planned for a long time."

It was also announced Monday that the company added more than 5 million new subscribers in the third quarter—most of which were international customers. Officials said they expect to gain 6 million more members by the end of the fourth quarter.

The investors interview, which was posted on YouTube, also addressed the possibility of Netflix acquiring the Weinstein Company in light of the sexual assault accusations against co-founder Harvey Weinstein. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said "it would be extremely unlikely" that Netflix would place a bid.