Netflix Not Focused on Releasing Films in Theaters; ‘It’s Just Not Our Business.’
For a while, it seemed as though Netflix’s sole focus was to become the first streaming service to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. With the releases of “Maestro,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Marriage Story,” “The Irishman,” “ROMA,” “Mudbound,” “Beasts of No Nation,” and others, many in entertainment felt that the streaming service that disrupted the entire industry was trying to backdoor its way into the good graces of Hollywood by releasing prestige pictures in theaters. Then, as the entire movie theater business was still trying to get back on its feet following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, Netflix put “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” into theaters — for an admittedly limited amount of time. However, it appears that the days of the world’s largest streamer making massive efforts to release its films in cinemas might be over.
- Netflix’s content chief reiterated that the streamer’s focus is on bringing films to its platform, not cinemas.
- Unlike its tech-focused streaming competitors Apple TV+ and Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix is not interested in overly investing in the theatrical experience.
- The world’s largest streamer will release 67 films in 2024, but few — if any — will have longer theatrical runs than absolutely necessary.
During a press conference on Wednesday to announce the company’s full slate of releases for 2024, Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said while that the streamer would release nearly 70 films in 2024, the focus would be on making them available first and foremost for subscribers.
“We’re the only real pure play streamer and our members love films and they want to see films on Netflix,” she said Bajaria. “I think a lot of companies and business(es) do theatrical and it’s a great business for them. It’s just not our business.”
This is not a new stance from the streaming giant. Despite the box office success of “Glass Onion,” Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in 2022 that the streamer’s goal was to entertain its subscribers, and while it had to release films at festivals to generate buzz and in theaters for awards consideration, all of that was being done as a way to amplify and promote its streaming content and library. Bajaria essentially reiterated the company’s stance this week.
“Our business is to make sure that members come to Netflix,” she said, “they’re in the mood for a movie and they get that movie that they want to see and that is always going to be the focus for us: Making great movies for Netflix that members want to see.”
Check out a preview of Netflix’s 2024 slate:
As part of Wednesday’s announcement, Netflix revealed its entire slate of films coming to the platform in 2024. As of now, there are 67 movies scheduled to premiere on Netflix this calendar year, including six that arrived in January — including the Oscar-nominated Spanish film “Society of the Snow.” Some of the bigger titles hitting the streamer this year include “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” “The Piano Lesson,” “3 Body Problem,” “Atlas,” “Back in Action,” “Carry-On,” “Damsel,” “Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver,” “Six Triple Eight,” “The Union,” “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story,” “A Family Affair,” “The Beautiful Game,” and more.
While some of these movies will debut at film festivals around the world and others could get theatrical releases to satisfy awards requirements, it is clear that Netflix is not going to spend a considerable amount of time or money putting them in cinemas. However, that stands in stark contrast to some of its streaming competitors, especially Apple and Amazon.
Over the past year or so, both companies have committed to spending over $1 billion on theatrically released films. Apple TV+’s cinematic aspirations were buoyed by the surprise success of “CODA” which became the first streaming film to win Best Picture. This year, the platform’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is nominated for the top prize at the Oscars, but the Martin Scorsese-helmed picture took 84 days before arriving on Apple TV+. That strategy differs significantly from that of Netflix, which tends to limit its films time in theaters significantly.
For example, “Glass Onion” was only available in cinemas for only a little over a week, then arrived on streaming a month later. From there, it went on to set viewership records, seemingly confirming that Netflix’s approach to the film’s release was the right one for that film. However, Apple appears to have a different purpose with its proposed focus on theatrical releases. Unlike Netflix, which has had decades to build up its massive library of licensed and original titles, Apple TV+ is a far newer service and has by far the smallest content archive of every major subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service. So the tech company’s emphasis on theatrical releases is two-pronged, not only to boost the cache and awards viability of its films, but also as an aspect of the marketing campaigns for titles that will eventually arrive on its streaming platform.
Amazon’s approach to spending on theatrical releases of its original movies is different than that of Apple’s, despite their seemingly similar tech backgrounds. When Amazon acquired MGM for $8.5 billion, it became much more in line with the likes of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast, Paramount Global, and other legacy entertainment companies. As Bajaria mentioned on Wednesday, Netflix — and similarly Apple TV+ — is a streaming-first business. While both companies have internal studios to make and produce content, their business and financial focuses are almost exclusively on bringing that content to their respective platforms, as the other media companies also derive significant portions of their revenue from box office sales.
Netflix’s decision to seemingly forgo bringing its films to theaters for more than the awards-consideration mandated periods will not endear the company to those around the industry interested in keeping the cinematic experience alive and well, it will likely continue to be appreciated by Netflix’s subscribers. As of the end of 2023, the streamer had amassed over 260 million global customers, and giving them reasons to continue to engage with the platform — and more importantly to remain subscribed — is the chief concern of everyone at Netflix.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.