Netflix pulling its own Oscar-winning movie from the service

Seemingly out of nowhere, Netflix is removing one of its own, original films from the streaming service, for some reason.

I sincerely hope you’ve already watched The Power of the Dog, because you don’t have much more time to do so. The western drama stars Sherlock and Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch alongside Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst, and was given a limited theatrical release in November 2021, before it was unveiled for all to see via Netflix the following month.

Take a look at the trailer for The Power of the Dog right here.

With a 94% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was a hit, and this was reflected by the amount of awards it was nominated for (and won). At the 94th Academy Awards, it was nominated for 11 Oscars, including the awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. In the end, it took home the award for Best Director.

Anyway, less than two years on from its release, and UK Netflix users have discovered that the film is soon going to be pulled from the streaming service’s library entirely - searching for the movie on the Netflix site shows that the last day to watch it is 18 August. However, as Digital Spy reports, it seems that this only affects UK subscribers, as it’s still displaying as normal on the U.S. Netflix site.

So, what’s with the sudden removal? Netflix hasn’t acknowledged the decision publicly, but Digital Spy has pointed out that something similar previously happened to the 2020 horror, His House, which was moved to BBC iPlayer in the UK. BBC Film is listed as one of The Power of the Dog’s production companies, so perhaps the same will happen this time? That’s pure speculation, however.

If you’ve not already watched The Power of the Dog, be sure to do so before it gets booted out from Netflix later this month.