By Michaela Gordoni
While Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos calls moviegoing “outdated,” A-list talent wants to make movies for theaters, so Netflix may have no choice but to buckle up for the box office.
Two of its biggest creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, recently left Netflix for Paramount to make movies, and THE FLOOD, a sci-fi movie to be directed by Zach Cregger, fell through because Netflix didn’t want to share it with theaters. Now, Cregger is making RESIDENT EVIL for Sony, /Film reported.
“Folks grew up thinking, ‘I want to make movies on a gigantic screen and have strangers watch them [and to have them] play in the theater for two months and people cry and sold-out shows. It’s an outdated concept,” Sarandos said earlier this year.
But if push comes to shove, Netflix will have to give in if this trend continues. It originally rejected a STRANGER THINGS theater release but is giving in with a STRANGER THINGS series finale release, a deal it made with AMC. Greta Gerwig’s NARNIA will also get an IMAX release in 2026.
Related: Will Greta Gerwig’s NARNIA Debut in Theaters? Netflix Says…
Warner Bros. is up for sale, and Netflix is considering a bid. If the streamer buys in, it would undoubtedly have to release some WB titles in theaters.
“If Netflix ends up winning Warner Bros., there’s no question they will have to be in the theatrical business,” Hernan Lopez, founder of consulting firm Owl & Co., said. “If they end up deciding not to bid, or end up outbid, I can see them softening their stance on theatrical distribution much like they did with advertising, or with sports.”
If Netflix owns WB, it could change the window that movies are in theaters, which is currently 45 days.
KPOP DEMON HUNTERS entered the box office after it was released on Netflix and was at the top of the box office, The Tribune reported.
Movie Web writer Anthony Lund asserts that it will have to release KPOP DEMON HUNTERS 2 in theaters in 2029 “or become a laughing stock,” because millions of fans will want and expect it to be in theaters.
JAMES BOND actor Daniel Craig has previously criticized Netflix for not allowing KNIVES OUT movies in theaters, which led to a couple of short runs in cinemas.
“Right now, KPOP DEMON HUNTERS is a movie that, for all its success, could have easily been a $1 billion box office smash. Its two limited sing-along releases,” Lund said, “both of which came after the movie had already been on Netflix for months and seen by over 325 million people (and counting), are all the proof needed that its 2029 sequel must get a full theatrical release, and Ted Sarandos is a fool if it doesn’t happen.”
Do you think Netflix will start releasing more projects in theaters?
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