Said the Gramophone - image by Kit Malo

What are we watching right now? High-quality storytelling is thriving across film and television:

The era of a single "mass audience" is over. Studios now produce content for niches. Blinding success can come from South Korea ( Squid Game , Netflix), Spain ( Money Heist , Netflix), or Germany ( Dark , Netflix). The most popular studios of the next decade will be those that balance global franchises with deeply local productions, using dubbing and subtitling as standard practice, not an afterthought.

Stranger Things became a global nostalgia bomb, blending 1980s horror with teen drama. Squid Game (produced in partnership with Korean studios) became Netflix’s most-watched series ever, proving that subtitles are no barrier to global popularity. On the film side, The Irishman , Don't Look Up , and Red Notice showcase their ability to attract A-list talent. Netflix's production model relies on data-driven greenlighting—using viewer habits to decide which genres and actors to invest in.

Major studios are the backbone of global entertainment, often defined by their unique storytelling styles and massive production scales: