Ted Sarandos’ latest interview began with the question “Have you destroyed Hollywood?” “No, we’re saving Hollywood,” Sarandos replied with a smile.
On Wednesday in New York, the Netflix CEO briefly discussed with Time magazine editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs at the Time100 Summit. They discussed problems in Hollywood and why Netflix is successful amidst production decreases, diminishing box office numbers, and an industry in contraction. “Netflix is a very consumer-focused company,” Sarandos said. “We really do care that we deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it.”
Using the box office as an example, Sarandos said, “What does that say? What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you. The studios and the theaters are duking it out over trying to preserve this 45-day window that is completely out of step with the consumer experience of just loving a movie.”
Netflix is still in the movie theater business, as the company owns Los Angeles’ Bay Theater and New York’s Paris Theater, which Sarandos says Netflix “saved” from becoming a Walgreens. “We didn’t save it to save the theater business. We saved it to save the theater experience, the CEO said.
Netflix also must give limited theatrical releases to films seeking awards qualification, 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and 2024’s Emilia Pérez. “We have these bespoke releases … we have to do some qualification for the Oscars,” Sarandos said. “They have to run for a little bit, it helps with the press cycle a little bit. But I’ve tried to encourage every director we work with to focus on the consumer, focus on the fans. Make a movie that they love, and they will reward you.”
Sarandos also noted that Netflix is in a transition period, saying, “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strangers watch them [and to have them] play in the theater for two months and people cry and sold-out shows … It’s an outdated concept.”
When asked specifically about filmmakers’ desires to make movies “for the movie theaters, for the communal experience,” being “an outmoded idea,” Sarandos said, “I think it is — for most people, not for everybody. If you’re fortunate to live enough in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.”
The Netflix CEO insisted he loves the movie theaters, but their decline does not “bother” him. He would be more bothered if “people stopped making great movies.” He also argued that Hollywood shouldn’t get “trapped” in wanting audiences to see movies in theaters. Instead, for the sake of the entertainment business, Hollywood should adapt to the way in which audiences want to watch movies.
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