As coronavirus vaccines roll out across the globe and filming slowly resumes, Netflix has revealed that it will spend $17 billion on content in 2021.

The plan was disclosed in the streaming company’s first-quarter financial report. Netflix reported a drop in new subscribers in the first few months of 2021 due to 20% less original content than in previous years. Fortunately, the company has announced plans for later this year that will bring subscriber rates back up.

“While the roll out of vaccines is very uneven across the world, we are back up and producing safely in every major market, with the exception of Brazil and India,” the company announced in their shareholder letter. “Assuming this continues, we’ll spend over $17B in cash on content this year and we’ll continue to deliver an amazing range of titles for our members with more originals this year than last.”

The amount Netflix spends on their content is forecasted by analysts to increase over the next several years, who predict the company could spend $26 billion in 2026. With some of the world’s biggest media companies like WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS, and Disney creating streaming services in recent years, the long-time king of the streaming industry has competition that’s catching up fairly quick.

Most of the content slated for release on Netflix is scheduled to arrive later in the year, when filming is likely to be less restricted. The company has confirmed that the tail end of 2021 will see “the return of new seasons of some of our biggest hits and an exciting film lineup” in addition to “a large number of returning franchises.” Notable mentions include the return of hit shows like “Sex Education,” “The Witcher,” and “You,” and new movies including the final installment of “The Kissing Booth”, “Red Notice”, and “Don’t Look Up.”

Coronavirus restrictions are gradually loosening across the United States, specifically for movie theaters. With cinemas slowly reopening – at reduced capacity – people are thrilled to be able to leave their homes and enjoy films on the big screen for the first time in a year, and the box office is flourishing, slowly returning to the active and prosperous state it was in before the ongoing pandemic.

Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of March 12-14, 2021:
1. Raya and the Last Dragon
2. Tom and Jerry
3. Chaos Walking
4. Boogie
5. The Croods: A New Age

The highest grossing film for last weekend was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. Having been in theaters and available on Disney+ with Premier Access since March 5, this film continues to soar at the box office a week after its release, raking in $5,500,000 this past weekend. In total, the animated action feature has grossed $15,837,165 since its release.

Tom and Jerry, which had the most successful opening weekend of 2021 when it first rolled out to theaters and HBO Max on February 27, continued to thrive at the box office this weekend, grossing $4,100,000. The live-action/CGI film following the iconic cat-and-mouse rivals as they chase each other around the Big Apple has now made $28,200,000 in total.

Now in its second week of release, Chaos Walking grossed $2,250,000. This sci-fi action film stars Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, and is based on Patrick Ness’ novel series of the same name. It has now grossed a total of $6,911,407 since its March 5 release.

Coming in at number four is coming-of-age drama Boogie, which made $730,000 this weekend. Written and directed by Eddie Huang, this film follows basketball prodigy Alfred Chin, also known as “Boogie,” who feels pressured by his parents as they make him focus on earning a scholarship.

The fifth highest-grossing film for this past weekend is The Croods: A New Age. This Dreamworks animated feature released on Thanksgiving in 2020, and has now been out for sixteen weeks. Over the weekend, it grossed $520,000, a slight decrease compared to the weekend before. In total, it has grossed $54,303,725 since its release nearly four months ago.

Invincible Entertainment has signed with free streaming platform Glewed TV.

Glewed TV is a free, entirely ad-supported streaming service that can be accessed online, on iOS and Android, on streaming devices including Apple TV and Roku, or on any smart TV. Delivering professional produced content to the public since 2017, Glewed TV boasts thousands of hours of programming that’ll appeal to everyone no matter what kinds of shows or movies they’re into. Genres include sports, crime, comedy, travel, and much more.

This will add Invincible content to Glewed TV’s already diverse catalogue of digital content.