47 Ronin director Carl Erik Rinsch was given $55 million by Netflix for a new sci-fi series called Conquest, but it reportedly didn’t exactly go as expected.
According to The New York Times, the filmmaker allegedly blew $10.5 million from the show’s 2020 funding round on stocks, eventually losing $5.9 million. He then pivoted to cryptocurrency, allegedly using $4 million to buy up Dogecoin.
The director turned this into nearly £27 million, then reportedly proceeded to spend $8.7 million on sports cars and designer goods.
A forensic accountant hired by Rinsch’s wife during the course of their divorce proceedings reportedly found that his purchases included a new Ferrari and five Rolls Royces. Netflix has yet to receive a single episode of the sci-fi series. Conquest was recently canceled by Netflix — given the circumstances, it’s now easy to see why.
The show was originally slated as a 13-episode sci-fi series with an initial budget of $44 million. Rinsch requested a further £11 million in March 2020.
“While the company provided funding and support for Rinsch’s series, after a lot of time and effort, it became clear that Mr. Rinsch was never going to complete the project he agreed to make,” said Netflix spokesperson, Thomas Cherian, who also confirmed that Netflix has written off the series.
Netflix and Rinsch are now locked into a confidential arbitration that was, remarkably, initiated by the director himself. He claims Netflix owes him $14 million in damages for breach of contract.
Rinsch has since declined to comment on the allegations, but did post an Instagram story explaining that he anticipated people would “discuss the fact that I somehow lost my mind … (Spoiler alert) … I did not.”
He has since closed his Instagram account.
Conquest was already a fairly big risk for Netflix, who had stumped up $44 million on a relatively unknown filmmaker. Rinsch’s only feature film to date is the Keanu Reeves action flick 47 Ronin, which was released in 2013 and became one of the year’s biggest box office bombs.
IGN’s 47 Ronin review gave it a generous 6.1/10 and said: “47 Ronin is a serviceable action movie that fails to either capture the emotional essence of the titular tale or bring anything genuinely fresh, invigorating, or memorable to its rendition. Character, relationship, and coherent tone are all sacrificed in service of an attempt to capitalize on an idea that – theoretically – has an appeal across multiple markets. Mildly entertaining and gorgeous to look at, 47 Ronin has little beneath the surface to recommend it. There are a few good fights, though.”
Want to read more about Netflix? Check out what we know about Black Mirror Season 7 as well as our rundown of the best streaming devices in 2023.
Image credit: Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Team One, Saatchi LA
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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