So naturally, I thought I should test the things I said in yesterday's post with actual numbers.
I was pretty spot on with the timings and quantity. Here is what I said yesterday about the duration each slide spends on screen:
"It puts single images from other Netflix shows and movies on the screen for about 15 seconds before switching to the next one."
Actual time? A little more than 14 seconds. I tested it consistently and the only differences were natural margins of error in how long it took me to press stop on the stopwatch app on my phone. Why 14 and not 15? I don't know, seems like they would just round up.
And here is what I said about how long it takes for the title to come up, giving my son and me the chance to guess the title before it comes up:
"The image appears about two seconds before the title."
Actual time? Two seconds! I'm glad I opted for two, because I originally considered writing "one or two seconds," before realizing that one was too quick.
And here is what I said about the quantity of slides in the loop before it starts over again:
"They go in a loop of maybe 40 titles before repeating."
Actual quantity? Forty-five titles. That might be the one I'm most impressed with, given that I have never counted and only ever estimated. Forty-five still seems like a bit of a random number, just like the 14 seconds rather than 15 seconds. I probably would have either rounded down to 40 or up to 50, but that's why they're doing that job and I'm not.
So that was all pretty good. I am pretty good with numbers. I have a weird ability with them that I sometimes think verges on freakish.
But the actual premise of the post? A bit flimsy.
I said it was weird for Netflix to be advertising a random old movie, even if it was new to their service, rather than concentrating on newer movies or TV shows, the kind you'd think they'd be more invested in if trying to figure out how to spend their money on future original programming.
Well, do you want to know some other movies that were featured among these 45 titles, in addition to the subject of yesterday's post, Cleaner?
Lost in Translation
Crazy Stupid Love
The Truman Show
American Psycho
Fight Club
Take Shelter
Wieners
Zoolander
The Devil's Advocate
Go
The 40 Year Old Virgin
If you include Cleaner, that's 12 of the 45 titles expended on advertising old movies, at least in this incarnation of the screen saver, which I believe only lasts a couple days before changing. So that's 27 percent.
Now, I would argue that only one of those besides Cleaner is truly "random," that being the movie Wieners, which I had to look up. It's from 2008 and it stars Kenan Thompson and Zachary Levi. Unlike Cleaner, I don't think I need to watch this one.
The rest, at least, are considered classics from between the mid-90s and the early-10s.
I do think it's funny how much this content changed since I last watched the screen saver and was inspired to watch Cleaner and then write about it. I may be wrong, but I don't think any of those titles were in the loop the last time I watched, other than Cleaner. It's almost like they changed the content in response to what I wrote yesterday, doubling down just to prove me wrong.
I also wanted to mention that in two instances, the movie was being advertised because it was leaving the streamer soon. I believe those two titles were Lost in Translation and Zoolander.
I won't talk about all 45 titles in the loop, but I do have a couple other observations:
1) There were only two new Netflix movies in the loop, only one of which has actually come out already, that being Voicemails for Isabelle. The other is the Kevin Hart vehicle 72 Hours, which I believe is due out in the next week to ten days. Given that I've probably already seen a dozen movies that debuted on Netflix in 2026, if I were them, I would include more of those. Especially something like Enola Holmes 3.
2) The tendency to advertise old content is not limited to movies. Also in this loop were the TV shows The Office (American version), Community, The Mentalist and Dr. House. Yes, you read that correctly. The show known as House was listed as Dr. House here. I don't know, maybe it's an Australian thing.
3) There were a number of movies that are not "new" but are not "old" either. These were primarily horror movies: Tarot, Final Destination: Bloodlines and Heretic. Final Destination is actually coming to the service at the start of August (which will give me the chance to revisit it, especially the brilliant opening). Companion isn't a horror, but it can generally be thought of in the same category of "high-concept genre film." Interestingly, both Heretic and Companion feature actress Sophie Thatcher. (And Heretic also features actress Chloe East, star of one of those 2026 Netflix original films I've seen, Roommates.)
Okay it's time for you stop reading this and for me to go do something else.
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