Roma, Birdbox are just the start as Netflix rivals up ante in the battle of the binge

Home viewers are in for the ride of their life as major new players enter the market and bring big-budget movies with them

• The authors who can write no wrong
• Actors’ plea: ‘It makes you feel invisible’

Grab your popcorn and get comfy on the sofa, streaming services are going to war in 2019.

The days of Netflix dominating home entertainment unchallenged are over as major new players enter the market and bring big-budget movies with them.

Netflix, which revolutionised the way we watch television, has been pouring cash into ever bigger original movies and getting results. Roma, set in 1970s Mexico, this week scored the service its first-ever Best Picture Oscar nomination, along with nine other Oscar nods including Best actor and Best Foreign Language Film.

Netflix movie Roma has been nominated for 10 Oscars. Picture: Netflix

And Bird Box, the horror movie everyone was watching over the holiday period, starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich and Jacki Weaver, set records as the most-viewed Netflix Original movie ever, getting more than 45 million views in its first week.

But that’s nothing compared with what is coming this year — with Netflix making 90 movies in 2019, including Velvet Buzzsaw, a horror film with Jake Gyllenhaal and Toni Collette and the Ryan Reynolds’ movie 6 Underground, which, at $210 million, is the most expensive movie it has made.

Sci-fi horror thriller Birdbox, starring Sandra Bullock, was the movie everyone was streaming over the Christmas period. Picture: Netflix

Netflix needs to create content as it’s about to lose a lot, as rival studios prepare to enter the digital world and fragment it.

Disney+ is launching late this year, as is WarnerMedia. NBC Universal has announced it will enter the market next year and Apple is beginning to make its own content.

Disney+ will make available its vast back catalogue of movies and television shows on its platform — it is estimated it will have 7000 television episodes and 500 movies — as well as new offerings, including Noelle starring Anna Kendrick, a live-action remake of Lady And The Tramp featuring Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux and new versions of The Parent Trap, Father Of The Bride, and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. It will also house all the Marvel and Star Wars movies. And with Disney buying 21st Century Fox, it will also get streaming service Hulu.

Disney+ will make all the Marvel movies, including Thor: Ragnarok starring Chris Hemsworth, available to subscribers.

Due to launch in the US late this year, the Australian date has not yet been confirmed.

Amazon Prime, meanwhile, continues to launch movies such as the Joaquin Phoenix vehicle Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot, although they have moved their focus more to making television shows.

WarnerMedia’s new service will contain Warner Bros. movies, including the Harry Potter and DC Comics franchises and it is expected they will create original content too.

Here are some of the biggest movies coming to your small screen this year:

VELVET BUZZSAW

Netflix: Released Friday, February 1

Directed and written by Nightcrawler’s Dan Gilroy, this horror thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Zawe Ashton (pictured), John Malkovich, Toni Collette and Rene Russo. The film follows the discovery of artwork by an unknown artist, that literally makes a killing.

Zawe Ashton and Jake Gyllenhaal star in Velvet Buzzsaw which is released on Netflix on February 1.

TRIPLE FRONTIER

Netflix: R eleased March

Another big action offering from Netflix comes in the form of Triple Frontier, starring Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam.

Directed by Viper Club’s J.C. Chandor the story follows former special ops soldiers, who, struggling to make ends meet, decide to steal millions from a South American drug lord. What could go wrong.

6 UNDERGROUND

Netflix: Released 2019

Costing $210 million, it is the most expensive movie Netflix has made, beating Will Smith’s Bright. Directed by Transformers’ Michael Bay and starring Ryan Reynolds, the action-adventure follows six billionaires who fake their own deaths and form an elite vigilante squad in order to take down criminals.

Ryan Reynolds will star in Netflix’s most expensive movie ever 6 Underground.

NOELLE

Disney+: Released 2019

This Christmas movie starring Anna Kendrick, Billy Eichner, Bill Hader and Shirley MacLaine follows Santa’s daughter Nicole Claus who finds herself having to take over the family business. Directed by Miss Congeniality’s Marc Lawrence, Disney is making the family-friendly movie exclusively for its new streaming service.

DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT

Amazon Prime: Released February 8

Based on cartoonist John Callahan’s autobiography about how he began drawing after a serious car accident, it is directed by My Own Private Idaho’s Gus Van Sant and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara and Jack Black. Made by Amazon, it opened at film festivals to great acclaim.

Joaquin Phoenix and Jonah Hill in Gus Van Sant’s film Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot which will screen on Amazon.

HIGH FLYING BIRD

Netflix: Released February 8

Director Steven Soderbergh is back with basketball drama High Flying Bird, starring Andre Holland, Zazie Beetz, Bill Duke, Zachary Quinto and Kyle MacLachlan. Like psychological horror flick Unsane which starred Claire Foy, Soderbergh shot the movie on an iPhone.

THE HIGHWAYMEN

Netflix: Released March 29

Netflix signed Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson and Kathy Bates for the much-anticipated crime drama about the detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde. It is directed by The Blind Side’s John Lee Hancock.