Netflix Inc. NFLX, -0.05% is planning to release 80 films in 2018, which by Hollywood standards is ambitious and aggressive.

Chief content officer Ted Sarandos said on the company’s quarterly earnings interview on Monday that the streaming giant released eight films in the 2017 third quarter and has close to 80 set to hit the service next year.

Last year, the six major Hollywood studios -- Disney DIS, -1.22% , Warner Bros. US:TWX, 20th Century Fox FOXA, -2.34% , Universal Pictures CMCSA, -0.70% , Sony SNE, +1.73% and Paramount Pictures US:VIAB — released a combined 106 films. That figure does not include films released under their subsidiary labels, but it puts into perspective the enormous challenge Netflix is facing.

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“I wish them luck,” Fox domestic distribution head Chris Aronson said in an email. “An 80-film slate in one year does not seem practical or sustainable in any way. It likely will increase competition for projects, but their development has to be quite short which will likely impact quality.”

ComScore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian asked how the company will juggle multiple productions that would have to be going on simultaneously, given the scale of the plan.

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There’s no telling exactly how many of Netflix’s 80 films will be original productions rather than films they snatch up at festivals like Sundance and elsewhere.

Sarandos saidthe 80-film slate would include a range of films from $1 million Sundance flicks to big-budget blockbusters like Netflix’s $90 million-film “Bright,” starring Will Smith.

“Bright,” directed by “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer, is one of Netflix’s most expensive projects to date, and is certainly the company’s most ambitious film. From the trailer it looks like a movie that could be released in theaters during the summer.

“It’s a big number,” Chris Spicer, an entertainment finance lawyer at law firm Akin Gump, said of Netflix’s 80-film release slate. “I’m even more blown away by the numbers, I mean, $90 million for a film that’s not going to be released in theaters seems crazy.”

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Netflix is looking more like a Hollywood studio, but the metrics compared to other studios are different, Spicer said.

The 106 films from the major studios last year all had to compete for a limited number of screens in a limited number of theaters, and that’s where films try to recoup a big chunk of the budget. So in addition to spending hundreds of millions producing films, the studios shelled out millions more on marketing and promotion.

Netflix has the benefit of unlimited space, but it misses out on the revenue generated from phenomena like “Split” or “Get Out” when they’re a surprise box office hit. There’s also no ancillary market like DVD sales for Netflix, though studios are no longer garnering the same returns from that market as they used to.

Netflix still relies mainly on subscription revenue. Licensing content and selling merchandise hasn’t been a material contributor. Netflix increased the cost of subscriptions recently, but the company’s debt continues to rise. Sarandos said content spend will increase to $7 billion to $8 billion next year, up from $6 billion in 2017.

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The company already has $17 billion in content commitments spread over the next several years, and Netflix expects free cash flow to remain negative for several years.

Producing high-quality films is not cheap. Sarandos said Martin Scorsese’s highly-publicized Netflix debut “The Irishman” is in production now. That film, which Sarandos said is expected to be shown in 2019, reportedly cost north of $100 million.

“It’s incredibly impressive, but it’s all about the money, and they seem to have the resources to make it happen,” Dergarabedian said. “I don’t think this is something that anyone could have prepared for even two years ago, but competition is a good thing. It’s pretty amazing, the evolution of Netflix.”