Netflix Removing The Power of the Dog

You’ve seen everything hitting Netflix in August, but how about what’s leaving: an Oscar-nominated film, a Netflix original, and an epic Western starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Also, these are all one movie.

The Power of the Dog was not only the number one English-language film on Netflix from November 19 to December 5, garnering 27.2 million viewing hours, but is also a Best Picture Oscar nominee, with stand-out performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, and an acclaimed score from Johnny Greenwood.

So, why is it leaving? It’s to do with distribution rights. Netflix is not the sole distributor of the film, with BBC Films having co-produced the movie. This means that, in the UK anyway, Netflix can't legally show it from August 18 onwards. It's not listed on the August removals for Netflix US, however.

There’s precedent for this. Recently, hit horror series His House was removed from Netflix and added to BBC iPlayer, having also been co-produced by the BBC. So while The Power of the Dog is leaving Netflix, we might see it added to BBC iPlayer.

The last day to watch The Power of the Dog in the UK is August 18.