47 “Ronin” director Carl Erik Rinsch received $55 million from Netflix for a new sci-fi series called “Conquest,” but it reportedly didn’t perform quite as expected.
According to The New York Times, the filmmaker reportedly wasted $10.5 million from the series’ 2020 funding round on stock and ended up losing $5.9 million. He then turned to cryptocurrency, reportedly buying up $4 million worth of Dogecoin.
The director made almost £27 million from it and then reportedly spent $8.7 million on sports cars and designer goods.
A forensic accountant hired by Rinsch’s wife during their divorce proceedings reportedly discovered that his purchases included a new Ferrari and five Rolls Royces. Netflix has not yet received a single episode of the science fiction series. Conquest was recently canceled by Netflix – given the circumstances, it’s now easy to see why.
The series was originally planned as a 13-episode science fiction series with an initial budget of $44 million. Rinsch applied for a further £11 million in March 2020.
“While the company provided financing and support for Rinsch’s series, after much time and effort, it became clear that Mr. Rinsch would never complete the project he had agreed to,” said Netflix spokesman Thomas Cherian, who also confirmed that Netflix wrote off the series.
Netflix and Rinsch are now embroiled in a confidential arbitration process, which, remarkably, was initiated by the director himself. He claims Netflix owes him $14 million in damages for breach of contract.
Rinsch has since refused to comment on the allegations, but posted an Instagram story in which he explained that he expected people to “discuss the fact that I’ve kind of lost my mind… (Spoiler- Alarm) … I didn’t do that.”
He has since closed his Instagram account.
For Netflix, which had spent $44 million on a relatively unknown filmmaker, the conquest was already a pretty big risk. Rinsch’s only feature film to date is the Keanu Reeves action film “47 Ronin,” which was released in 2013 and became one of the biggest box office bombs of the year.
IGN’s 47 Ronin review gave it a generous 6.1/10 and said, “47 Ronin is a serviceable action film that neither captures the emotional essence of the titular story nor brings anything truly fresh, invigorating or memorable to its rendition.” Relationship and coherent tone are all sacrificed in an attempt to capitalize on an idea that – in theory – has traction in multiple markets. 47 Ronin is mildly entertaining and beautiful to watch, but beneath the surface there’s little to recommend it. There are some good fights though.”
Want to read more about Netflix? Check out what we know about Black Mirror Season 7, plus our roundup of the best streaming devices in 2023.
Photo 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 keep following him Twitter.