Netflix has ended its production deal with director David Fincher after six years, the company said Thursday. The partnership was first announced in 2020 and was originally scheduled to last for four years, giving Netflix exclusive streaming rights to Fincher’s then-upcoming projects, including the Herman J. Mankiewicz biographical drama Mank. The split is the latest in a series of departures by filmmakers who once held long-term deals with the streamer.
Fincher’s Netflix output mixed critical recognition with weak financial returns. Mank drew praise from critics and earned 10 Academy Awards nominations, winning two. But during a three-week theatrical run it made around $100,000 against a $25 million budget, and after arriving on Netflix it spent a single day on the streamer’s top 10 most-watched movies list, in last place. His 2023 film The Killer debuted at No. 1 on that chart, yet its $452,000 box office gross against a $175 million budget made it another financial dud.
Director Shawn Levy announced last month that he had signed a new overall production deal with Disney after nearly a decade of working exclusively with Netflix on projects including Stranger Things, The Adam Project, and Shadow and Bone. Levy, whose directing career began with Disney Channel series, described the move as a homecoming. His departure followed disappointment among audiences and critics over Stranger Things’ final season.
Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer announced in August 2025 that they were leaving Netflix for a four-year TV and film production deal with Paramount. Their next series, The Boroughs, debuted on Netflix this past May to respectable numbers but was canceled one month after its release. Netflix also parted ways with Marriage Story writer-director Noah Baumbach, whose other Netflix projects, including White Noise and Jay Kelly, failed to make much of a splash. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter that the exits by Levy and the Duffer Brothers stemmed from the filmmakers’ desire to spend more time on feature-length projects.
Some filmmaker relationships remain in place. Netflix’s production deal with Guillermo del Toro is ongoing, and the streamer is treating the first of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia films as a proper event that will spend seven weeks in theaters before streaming. Rian Johnson is taking a break after fulfilling his $450 million deal to produce two Knives Out sequels, though he could return with a plan to make more. Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is set to show in theaters for two weeks before hitting Netflix on December 23rd.
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