Ted Sarandos: Don’t expect to see Netflix movies in theaters

Not only will you not see Netflix in your mailbox anymore (yeah, that was still going on), but you’ll never see their original movies in theaters either.

Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, stated bluntly that he’s not about to have the streaming service’s movies in theaters. “Driving folks to a theater is just not our business. Having big new desirable content drives value for our members and drives value for our business. There are no major changes in play.” In other words, you can rest easy knowing you’ll be saving cash on popcorn and can pause Hubie Halloween 2 at your convenience.

Outside of Netflix, two key players that have opted to put movies in theaters are Apple and Amazon. Amazon seemed reluctant to go this route, as their most recent movie prior to 2023 to get a theatrical release was 2019’s Late Night. And then came Ben Affleck’s Air, which was originally meant to go straight to Amazon Prime Video but was given a theatrical window based on positive test screenings. Now that Air has pulled in $55 million worldwide so far, it could be a good indicator that the model works…for them, at least. Apple, meanwhile, has their goals in place, with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon set for an October release before it hits Apple TV+, while they also became the first streaming service to win the Best Picture Oscar with CODA.

But Sarandos will stick to his guns (or is it knives?), despite the release approach on Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which Netflix put in theaters one month before it arrived on streaming, a move that director Rian Johnson praised. This is despite some major projects on the slate, like Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley, David Fincher’s The Killer and Leave the World Behind with Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke, which could have fared well at the cinema.

Do you think Netflix should release some of their more high-profile titles in theaters or do you like their continued method? How often do you see a movie on the big screen if it’s available on streaming services? Let us know below!