Netflix Thaws Their Theatrical Stance
James Hibberd
Well, well, well. It sure looks like Netflix's previously strong stance against theatrical releases is thawing faster than the icebergs these days. To the point where they're even now putting their shows in cinemas:
Netflix‘s previously stated plan not to release the series finale of Stranger Things into theaters has been turned upside down.
The streamer announced Thursday that the highly anticipated feature-length ending to the coming-of-age sci-fi hit will get a theatrical release after all.
The screenings of the season five closer will take place in more than 350 theaters in the U.S. and Canada starting on Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. PT — timed to the finale’s global premiere on Netflix — and will run through Jan. 1, 2026.
Yes, this is happening despite Netflix explicitly saying this would not happen. And that's a good thing because of course it should happen! Undoubtedly this is largely driven by the Duffer Brothers, the Stranger Things creators who infamously jumped ship to the new Paramount because Netflix was unwilling to work in theatrical. While it may have been too late to woo them back, it clearly applied pressure to send Stranger Things (which will undoubtedly see spin-offs down the road which the Duffers will still be a part of for Netflix) off with style.
And it sends a signal to the rest of Hollywood – and specifically, the talent: Netflix is not as against theatrical as their rhetoric suggests. Or even states. And that's important because the Duffers weren't the first to take their talents elsewhere over this issue, with Netflix losing Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights in large part because producer and star Margot Robbie wanted a theatrical release.
And this followed Robbie's Barbie colleague, Greta Gerwig, demanding some sort of theatrical experience for her upcoming Narnia adaptation. A move which landed on an IMAX compromise – a pretty massive cave for Netflix.
Oh yes, and then there's Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. A movie also clearly built for theaters, to the point where fans were demanding a release. And now they're getting one.
KPop Demon Hunters k-popped at the box office after Sony convinced them it would be a good idea to do a limited theatrical run – even after being on Netflix for months.
Are you sensing a trend yet?
You should be – and it's one you would have seen a year ago if you were reading Spyglass. In fact, it was exactly a year ago yesterday that I published: Netflix's Next Backtrack: Movie Theaters. As I wrote:
Netflix is sort of like Steve Jobs in a way. That is, they keep insisting they're not going to do something – until they turnaround on a dime and do it. Ads. Sports. And soon, I bet: movie theaters.
As I argued, Netflix is literally just leaving money on the table by not leveraging theatrical as a key part of their strategy. I'm not saying every bit of content needs to go down that path – in fact, most shouldn't – but they have enough big, tentpole stuff now that clearly would benefit from the buzz. And, in fact, it will help hype up much of the content for a streaming debut. This is all fairly obvious stuff, so it's not exactly hard to predict – though I will note that I'm often prescient in my Netflix ideas.
That includes the general "binge installment" release strategy that Netflix is utilizing with this final Stranger Things season. From the start of the series, I wondered if the general binge release strategy wasn't actually hurting the show because it dampened the "watercooler" effect, because everyone was watching different episodes at different times. As it turns out, Stranger Things was fine (clearly) with the full-on binge mode, but as the seasons went on, I laid out why morphing into more hybrid binge watching/communal viewing idea could work well. Which is exactly what Netflix is leveraging here.
Including, now in theaters. Something I long ago argued that HBO should have done with Game of Thrones. And many other such marquee television shows should leverage. And the theaters should welcome such content. Obviously.
One more thing: Puck's Matt Belloni (who has been all over Netflix's backtrack here) also notes how the level of thaw has gone all the way up to AMC. Their CEO, Adam Aron, famously has been in a cold war with Netflix over their theatrical stance, to the point where the largest theater chain refused to showcase KPop Demon Hunters. Now, it seems, the two sides are going to team in multiple ways going forward, including not only Narnia and Stranger Things, but unstated future ideas as well. I wonder what those could be...
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler