Steven Soderbergh’s brilliant idea: Show the series finale of Breaking Bad in movie theaters

BREAKING BAD will premiere the final 8 episodes of the fifth season beginning on August 11th and then one of the best shows of all time will be off the air forever. The finale will surely be the highest rated episode in the series entire run, but director Steven Soderbergh has an idea on how to make it even more special.

In an interview with Empire, Soderbergh suggested showing the two final episodes of BREAKING BAD theatrically instead of on television. That would mean the final six episodes would air from August through September and then the finale would hit theaters shortly thereafter. Why would Soderbergh suggest this?

“I thought it would be really cool to have the final two episodes of the show as a movie that aired the Friday after the penultimate episode. You'd sell that during the season – ‘See the season finale in theatres!’ – and just run it for a week, but I feel like you’d clean up. It’s never been done before.

"It’s [in cinemas for] one week, then you can download it” he said, elaborating on his pitch, “but for the fans to have a communal viewing experience that week, that’d be super-cool.”

While countless television series grapple with taking their stories from the small to big screen, this would be a very unique way of handling it. BREAKING BAD doesn’t feel like television due to the high production values and cast so I don’t think it would be difficult to justify the move artistically. But, BREAKING BAD also does not draw huge ratings either. Bigger audiences than MAD MEN, yes, but nowhere near THE WALKING DEAD’s weekly viewership. I doubt at this point in the game that AMC would try something like this, but would they really have much to lose? The question is, would you pay full price admission to see the finale of BREAKING BAD in a movie theater?

The BREAKING BAD series finale is currently set to air September 29th.