ABSTRACT
This chapter maps and analyses the commissioning of European original films by Netflix and Amazon Prime Video between 2016 and mid-2025, based on an original dataset of 271 titles. It examines two dimensions of video-on-demand activity in Europe: the national and regional distribution of productions, and the revival of specific genres historically marginalised within European cinema. The findings reveal a persistent concentration of investment in the ‘Big Five’ Western European markets, with only selective expansion into emerging centres such as Turkey, Poland, and parts of Scandinavia. Whilst streamer interventions have diversified output through scalable genres such as horror and romance, these gains are shaped by risk-averse commissioning logics privileging intellectual property (IP)-based content and single-territory production. In bypassing traditional co-production frameworks, these global streaming services embed new industrial models that consolidate control over intellectual property. The chapter argues that these practices function as a form of selective disruption: expanding certain genres and markets whilst reinforcing—and in some cases deepening—pre-existing asymmetries in European film production.
