Dissecting what a Cyberpunk 2077 Netflix series would mean for the franchise, How The Witcher Netflix became such a success and it’s ripple effect, Henry Cavill vs Keanu Reeves and celebrity presences, some existing Cyberpunk styled productions and shows and how this is a real possibility based off movements CDPR have already made with their Cyberpunk IP is the topic of todays Cyberpunk 2077 video!
The Witcher Netflix despite lukewarm critic scores, has been an overwhelming success in terms of audience and fan reception, straight up views and interest generated, as well as for the entities attached to the project. The Witcher Netflix crushed it in its United States Debut, and although Netflix tends to keep their numbers close to their chest, third party analytics have it pinned just behind Stranger Things and The Mandalorian in terms of recent Original Series and their impressive metrics.
Let’s be honest here, amongst the gaming population The Witcher has almost unanimously been praised especially the 3rd installment and has rocketed CD PROJEKT RED to the top of many open world RPG and gaming enthusiasts lists in terms of respect, notoriety and quality.
The Witcher Netflix single-handedly helped The Witcher 3 break its population numbers on Steam.
Henry Cavill and the Netflix name has furthermore pushed The Witcher to a much more mainstream audience, putting the series and the name in the living rooms of those who are detached from the video gaming world, but still consume modern entertainment as almost all of us who have a tv set or internet access do.
Now extrapolate this to the potential of a Cyberpunk Netflix, TV Series or movie, it has the ability to proliferate across the world and become a success. Cyberpunk 2077 is undoubtably more popular than The Witcher games, at least in terms of initial intrigue. YouTube is a decent barometer for gauging public interest, and here we can see the numbers behind the trailers of The Witcher vs Cyberpunk. There is quite the discrepancy.
This is partially due to the CD PROJEKT RED name being held in higher regard with the gaming population as time goes on, but I also think the Cyberpunk genre is something fresh and exciting for consumers, even if the actual genre dates back quite some time ago. This resurgence of the concept of high tech low life parallels nicely with our real world acceleration of technology, AI vs what it means to be human, the escapism of smartphones and being bombarded with the digitization of the world at every corner, as well as social media which is often times the source of politically and socially charged rumors, misinformation, opinions and statements.
Now assume a series or movie launch that is within the predictable realm of how successful Cyberpunk 2077 as a game will be. It already has the Celebrity endorsement to make the game itself more popular amongst the population who don’t play video games, which in itself is opening the video gaming space to more people without even the need for a Netflix or TV adaptation. Combine this with the pedigree for CDPR to craft expert stories and polarizing characters.
Altered Carbon was one of the first if not the first Cyberpunk themed project to be picked up by Netflix, and it has been a somewhat niche success. The genre is picking up steam again with more main-stream adaptations of a live action Akira, the Matrix 4 and more Ghost In The Shell SAC 2045 slated for the next couple of years.
Cyberpunk on the big screen can do something it’s genre-based predecessors behind it has for the most part not done, and that is having overwhelmingly positive ratings to a larger and non-niche audience.
The co-creator of 2077 and the main man behind its source material believes that a Cyberpunk 2077 movie would strike the balance between heady and thoughtful questions, action, emotion and impressive and vibrant locations and sequences.
Mike Pondsmith mentions in an interview that “At this point we are teaching people about this new kind of Cyberpunk. My favorite film is Blade Runner, but I recognize inherently that it’s a cerebral film and 2049 was even more cerebral.”
If you’ve had a chance to read any of the source books from the early 90s that Cyberpunk 2077 is based upon, it immediately becomes apparent in how many different directions one can take when developing a poignant, and provoking script. It’s incredibly fleshed out, researched and well written in an attempt to predict and tell compelling stories about the issues of the future.
The Witcher as an IP is great because it’s built on the foundation of having the strong works of Andrej Sapkowski, and Cyberpunk cranks that up 10-fold with over 4000 pages of history and lore. The best works of film many times come from already popular books, but there are also a ton of books and content equally as engaging that would be perfect for the big screen.
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