Netflix cancels upcoming Prince documentary amid new agreement with the late singer’s estate
Prince’s estate and Netflix have come to a “mutual agreement” and will no longer be releasing the film.
Netflix has shelved an upcoming nine-hour documentary about Prince by filmmaker Ezra Eldmen—and the late singer’s estate is rejoicing.
On Thursday, Prince’s estate and Netflix released a joint statement on social media explaining the move.
“The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive,” Netflix and the estate said. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
Before the statement was released, Prince’s estate made an additional post on X that featured a somewhat cryptic video and the caption, “The vault has been freed.” In addition to vault imagery and purple undertones, the video included a montage of Prince images set to Prince’s song “Free.”
Text in the video read: “Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people” and “The truth is, you are either here to enlighten or discourage.”
Thursday’s announcement comes as hardly a surprise since the film was initially announced and purported to be revealing and paint Prince in a controversial light. Eldman, whose other works include the Oscar-winning documentary “O.J.: Made in America,” spent the last five years working on the project that involved extensive exclusive access to the singer’s archives, more than 70 interviews, and ultimately accuses Prince of physical and emotional abuse, Rolling Stone reported.
At least more than one of Prince’s former lovers reportedly alleges in the documentary Prince was either physically abusive, controlling, or a combination of both.
Eldman ran into trouble bringing this story to the light of day after Prince’s estate changed hands.
In a September story in the New York Times detailing the legal drama surrounding the documentary, Eldman said, “How can you tell the truth about someone who, when you’re talking to people, they all had different things to say? How can you tell the truth about someone who never told the truth about himself?”
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