Ted Sarandos Reportedly Meeting With Major Exhibitors About Netflix Releasing More Films In Theaters [CinemaCon]

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently had a really tough time trying to convince industry media and those in the public worried their acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would impact the studio division’s theatrical window after downplaying the streamer’s interest in putting their movies in theaters, and butting heads with filmmakers over it. The executive has seemingly changed his tune, or at least is now open to the idea of putting more of the Netflix originals in traditional theaters, according to a new report.

The Wrap is revealing that Sarandos is attending CinemaCon in Las Vegas in the hopes of meeting with exhibitors, such as AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron, Regal CEO Eduardo Acuna, and Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble, about the streaming service putting more of their titles in theaters.

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How they’re framing the meetings as Sarandos simply “dipping his toe in the water,” without any signs of concrete deals being on the table or what movies they may want to give a larger theatrical footprint (their “Narina” reboot from “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig feels like something that could be at that level and may be considered for a bigger rollout, given the massive global fanbase for the works of author C.S. Lewis).

“KPop Demon Hunters” had been on Netflix for a while before it was given a theatrical release last year and ended up earning $24.6 million after opening $18 million domestically. The mega-popular musical flick ended up walking away with the Best Animated Feature Film award at the Academy Awards.

We had a feeling that the success of “KPop Demon Hunters” opening number one (their first number one opener) could have at least pushed Sarandos, after his WBD deal got busted up by Paramount Skydance’s hostile bid, to pivot to simply working directly with exhibitors to release their films instead of trying to broker distribution deals with competing studios or trying to buy a traditional one like WB.

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That said, we should be cautious here, as this sounds like early days on the streaming service’s push for more theatrical releases, but we’ll try to be optimistic that Ted Sarandos sees the value of promoting the Netflix brand in traditional theaters.