Oats Studios – Picture: Oats Studios
One of the best things about Netflix is finding a complete hidden gem and Oats Studios certainly fits that bill. Releasing on Netflix globally on October 1st, the experimental series which originally debuted on YouTube found its way onto Netflix. But will there be a second season or a volume 2? Let’s take a look.
As we first reported, the collection of episodes that make up Oats Studios arrived on Netflix on October 1st. It included longer experimental films like Rakka which had a runtime of 21 minutes but also including shorter episodes like Gdansk that only has a runtime of 4 minutes.
The collection of short films comes from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp who set up the independent studio back in 2017 and originally set out to distribute movies via YouTube and Steam.
Since its addition to Netflix, it has slipped into numerous top 10 lists such as appearing in the UK top 10s, as well as many European countries.
Is there a volume 2 of Oats Studios on the way?
The project seems to have been inactive for around 10 months with the last release from Oats Studios being All My Sh*t which is part of the Bad President episode which is on Netflix.
There are a few notable exclusions of Oats Studios videos not being on Netflix that are available on YouTube which could make up a second volume. A couple of examples being Kenya as part of the Bad President episode or Praetoria.
In terms of actual new projects within Oats Studio, there hasn’t been anything new since Gdansk in November 2017.
Neill Blomkamp has discussed some of the experimental features he’d like to include in future Oats Studios projects. In an interview with DreadCentral, Blomkamp said he was hoping to use “volumetric capture” for OatsStudios but ultimately used the technology in his movie, Demonic which was released over the summer of 2021.
Demonic, which is released by IFC Films, was produced under the Oats Studio banner and is a feature-length film. Whether that movie finds its way onto Netflix in the future is unclear (IFC Films do traditionally hit Netflix a few years after release).
Right here, right now, no future smaller Oats Studios projects are scheduled for release but a lot will ultimately depend on what Neill Blomkamp does next. According to Inverse, he’s still working on the sci-fi thriller movie Inferno but was severely delayed due to the pandemic.
With Netflix licensing volume 1, we could see them commission exclusive episodes for the future.
We would recommend you now dive into some of the behind-the-scenes of various projects including this excellent deep-dive into the making of ADAM.
Elsewhere, we’d recommend you give Love, Death & Robots a watch as it’s very similar in the sense that every episode varies in subject matter and length with similar often creepy vibes. Two seasons of Love, Death & Robots are on Netflix with a third on the way in 2022.
Would you like to see more Oats Studios on Netflix? Would you like to see other smaller YouTube projects make their way onto Netflix?