Netflix is now available in over 190 countries

Safe to say Netflix had a rather big announcement at CES 2016. The company just launched in over 130 new countries around the world. Netflix Co-founder and Chief Executive Reed Hastings made the announcement at a keynote during CES. This gives the new countries access to Netflix’s original shows and movies. The company promises that this year they will release “31 new and returning original series, two dozen original feature films and documentaries, a wide range of stand-up comedy specials and 30 original kids series—available at the same time to members everywhere.”

Netflix has also added Arabic, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chines to the 17 languages it supports. At the moment though, they still aren’t available in China, a big market that comes with a lot of restrictions. But they are supposedly working on options to provide the service there. It’s also still not available in Crimea, North Korea, and Syria due to US government restrictions on American companies. Netflix launched its service in 2007 and has expanded globally, first to Canada, then to Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan to include 60 countries.

Netflix will only stream ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in Canada

Image courtesy of Disney

Thanks to a deal by Netflix Canada, the streaming service in the country will be the only one who can stream the highly anticipated Star Wars film next year. Canada’s the only one who has secured streaming rights for Star Wars: The Force Awakens as their deal with Disney includes 2015 releases. Under the terms of the deal, it will happen about eight months after the movie leaves theatres. With the film debuting this December, we should expect it around August. The US premium cable channel Starz has an exclusive output deal with Disney that runs through the end of the year, Netflix’s deal with Disney kicks in for 2016 title so no new Star Wars for them.

But while The Force Awakens won’t hit other Netflix queues soon, the company is working on bringing the older Star Wars films to its service.

Source: Variety

Netflix original film ‘Beasts of No Nation’ is now available for streaming

After bringing its original film to TIFF last month, Netflix is finally making Beasts of No Nation available for streaming. The film stars Idris Elba and it tells the story of a young West African boy forced to join a collective of mercenary fighters during the civil war. It’s directed by Cary Fukunaga who has also worked on projects like season one of True Detective, Sin Nombre, and Jane Eyre.

The release on Netflix is causing issues with theatre owners as the company released it on-demand and in some theatres in the US simultaneously. According to Wired, theater owners heard about the release at the same time as everybody else. Patrick Corcoran, vice president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said distributors will usually negotiate a theatre owners ahead of a public announcement. Corcorcan says, “Netflix is not serious about a theatrical release.” He adds, “The purpose here is PR. They want to qualify for an Academy Award.” Because for them to qualify, a film has to be in theatres the same day or before home release. They got help with at least one theatre chain as select Landmark Theaters will be showing the film.

Source: SlashGear + Wired

Here’s our first look at Marvel’s ‘Jessica Jones’ for Netflix

We’re getting our first official teaser of the second Netflix-exclusive Marvel show, Jessica Jones.  Jessica, played by Krysten Ritter, isn’t your typical superhero. She’s not your regular goody two-shoes and she doesn’t seem like a morning person either, as seen in this trailer. The show will be picking up from where Jessica Jones retires from being a hero and sets up her own detective agency in New York City. The show will be premiering on the streaming service on November 20^th.

Source: The Verge