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The unfortunate consequence of this is that some previously viable types of movies won't make financial sense in a mostly streaming world. Spending 50 million dollars to produce a comedy only to have it end up on Netflix competing directly with thousands of low budget comedy TV shows and indie films isn't going to work. Would a movie like Austin Powers be able to make money today?

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Austin Power's would probably make money today, but it probably wouldn't be made. Because it's impossible to only make "good movies," especially when you are working without an established fanbase or franchise, for every Austin Powers you make, you get 2-3 shitty high budget attempts that flop.

We should also ask ourself if high budget comedies are really necessary. You could do Austin Powers on a cheap budget and it would probably only reduce the quality a bit. So maybe it's not the end of the world if the Austin Powers movies of the future are lower budget and on TV.

Yes it would. You'd make money in the theater and then get preferable terms from Netflix. Look up Kevin Hart for examples.

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