Netflix refused to buy one 2024 movie because it’s “so bad”

The studio behind one of 2024’s most forgettable flops reached out to Netflix and offered the movie to the streaming platform – and they said no.

It’s been a strange year at the box office. Inside Out 2 ($1.69 billion) and Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.3bn) are the highest-grossing movies of 2024, but no other film has managed to break that billion-dollar barrier (Wicked is the next contender).

Elsewhere, there have been some extraordinary bombs: Borderlands made $32 million worldwide against a $110m budget, Kevin Costner’s Horizon Chapter 1 ($38m) flatlined in theaters, and Megalopolis made a mere $12.2m.

There’s one film that’s probably slipped from your memory: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Zachary Levi’s adaptation of the classic children’s book. From a budget of $40 million, it made $29.2 million – still a loss, but not as substantial as Joker 2.

It vanished from cinemas as quickly as it arrived earlier in August, and (according to Bloomberg) Sony floated the possibility of selling it to Netflix.

“Sony executives liked the film just fine, but they worried it would fail to break through competing against two other blockbuster animated films, Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4,” the outlet wrote.

That’s a generous read: Harold and the Purple Crayon didn’t connect with critics, landing at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. Surprisingly, it has a 92% audience rating, but some of the reviews are a little dubious; one user said it “changed their life” and another called it, “Peak cinema.”

Netflix also said no because “studios’ leftovers don’t fit into [its] new strategy,” focused on producing better films that will reshape people’s perception of the streaming service.

“You know your movie sucks when Netflix even says no,” one user joked. “I thought Netflix loved garbage?” another wrote. “Do you know how bad your movie has to be for Netflix to not want it?” a third joked.

You can also check out other new movies to stream this month, and if you’re in the mood for something spooky, check out the scariest Netflix movies to watch this Halloween.