Netflix is on the hunt for new content again, and this time it's bagged some game you've likely never heard of -- yet.
The streaming site announced Thursday morning that it had reached a deal with independent film studio Radius-TWC, the multi-platform branch of Hollywood titans The Weinstein Company.
The deal will bring select features from that studio to the Netflix streaming section "by the beginning of 2013," and will include "Bachelorette," starring Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher (available on-demand and on iTunes now and coming to theaters September 7); "The Details," with Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks, which premiered at January's Sundance Festival; and "Only God Forgives," the latest film from director Nicholas Winding Refn, who helmed the indie hit "Drive."
Here's a raunchy, totally NSFW trailer for "Bachelorette," perhaps the cornerstone of the deal:
In its recent spate of acquisitions Netflix has shown a willingness to take bets on independent films and filmmakers: In a splashy deal with The Weinstein Company earlier this year, for example, Netflix announced that it would be the first outlet to make available "The Artist," the (mostly) silent Academy Award winner for Best Picture from 2012, as well as several other foreign-language movies. That deal was followed by the film critic Roger Ebert complaining that Netflix no longer streamed enough indie movies, a charge Netflix denied.
This deal will likely please indie lovers like Ebert but should do little to satisfy the Netflix critics who still want to see more blockbuster films available to stream via Netflix Instant. Though CEO Reed Hastings recently penned a letter to assure investors (and subscribers) that hits like "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games" were coming to Netflix soon, the service's greatest weakness remains its library selection, according to a recent Consumer Reports survey.
You can expect, then, a flurry of deals like this one in the coming months to firm up the catalogue; and, as several of Netflix's existing content deals with major studios will lapse in the coming two years, you can also expect some larger acquisitions, as Netflix will have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on new content. If that "Bachelorette" trailer didn't quite get you excited about that monthly $8 you're plunking down, stay tuned: There is probably a whole lot more content news for Netflix coming up soon.
Want to know how you can find the best movies on Netflix and get the most out of your account? Check out our handy guide here. And for a few intriguing Netflix alternatives, flip through the slideshow below:
